A Lesson In Romantics
by I'm Not A Princess
Summary: Maybe they shouldn't be drinking so much but then again maybe just one night wouldn't be so wrong? What's the worst that can happen? She's always needed him, she just never really knew it and he always thought he had everything figured out. That is until they get the biggest shock of their lives and don't know what to do after. *Old name used to be Never Knew I Needed*
1. So Far Away

**Never Knew I Needed**

**Summary**: _Maybe they shouldn't be drinking so much but then again maybe just one night wouldn't be so wrong. Right? What's the worst that can happen? She's always needed him, she just never knew it. That is until now. He thought he always had everything figured out. That is until he gets the biggest shock of his life. What do you do when you're in a situation like this with the one person you love, and you don't want them to think that that's the only reason?_

**Pairing**: ShikaIno

**Disclaimer**: I don't Naruto or else things would be so different in the Manga right now. Like For real I am so serious about that. Lol Masashi Kishimoto owns it not me.

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**Chapter 1: So Far Away**

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Ino was in her room getting ready for the celebration tonight. She had to have the perfect outfit and look her best tonight. Tonight he couldn't run from her he had to talk to her. Right? He couldn't ignore her in front of all of their friends… Would he? Of course not, it's Shikamaru he would never ignore her, he grew up with her. They've been friends since they were kids, since the day they were born. The reason that they haven't really spoken much lately is just because they've both been extremely busy…Right? Well that's what she keeps telling herself. But she'll settle everything today.

She looked at her clock on the opposite side it read 5:30, she was suppose to meet everyone up at 7 o'clock to celebrate. Everyone in the Konoha 11 was going to meet up at Hideyoshi's. Hideyoshi's a new bar that opened up not to long ago, it's mostly known as a shinobi bar. Everyone was going to celebrate the fact that some of their teammates and friends were now going to be a Jonin sensei. Out of all the many friends of hers that were being promoted Shikamaru was the one she really wanted to celebrate for. Sure they may not really be talking that much now, but its not as if they weren't still best friends, she was happy for him she always knew he had it in him.

'_When he gets off his lazy ass he's a real genius.' _She thought to herself fondly with a small smile plastered among her face, without her knowledge.

With only an hour and a half to get ready she quickly went to take a shower. After her shower Ino went through her closet for the perfect outfit, She found one that fit her taste, a short, sleeveless, black dress that stopped mid-thigh. She looked towards the clock and saw she had about forty minutes before she had to leave so she decided she'd do her hair and make up. When she was finished she had light purple and gray eye shadow, black mascara, black eyeliner, and pink lipstick. She went to inspect herself in the mirror she deducted that she looked good enough for the night. Ino quickly glanced at the clock on her wall and saw she had 20 minutes left. Knowing it would take about 15 minutes to the bar she decided to leave then. As she was walking out she caught her father's eye.

"Ino, where are you going? It's getting late out." Inochi said with a hint of worry.

"I'm just going out with a few friends dad. Don't worry I'll be back later we're jus celebrating." She replied to her father so nonchalantly.

"Hmm. Be careful, I know how crazy young shinobi's celebrating can get." He looked off and had a far away look and chucked to himself as if remember a far off memory.

"Okay daddy. I'll be careful. Now can I go, I'm expected there in about 15 minutes."

"Oh yes. Go on Ino."

"Bye dad."

"Bye Ino."

As she walked Ino thought about all the crazy things that have been happening and that might happen in the near future. Sakura had told her of what's been going on with her and Naruto lately. Kiba had actually managed to get the courage to ask out Hinata and she said yes. Tenten and Neji finally stopped hiding their relationship from everyone. All of her friends were moving on with their lives so fast and they were all only 17 and 18! Having the life of a shinobi really made you mature and value the little things in life that might not be there the next day. Everyone that doesn't really know how she is, all said that while all her friends were finding someone to be with she'll be alone. That she'll never find anyone that fits her taste and when she does find someone that fits her taste she wont fit their taste, that she was a stuck up shallow little girl. They all said these things without even knowing what were actually her standards are for what she was looking for in someone She knows the faces of everyone that's ever said she's alone.. All Ino really wanted was a guy that will respect her, love her as much as she loves him, understand her profession, and didn't really mind all the small little crazy things about her. She wants someone that'll understand her as much as Kiba, Naruto, and Neji understand her friends. She doesn't know who it'll be but she knows that maybe if she's lucky she just might find him. But to her, as she's watching almost all of her friends find that someone, it all just seems so far away to her. Like a distant dream, someone who she can grow old with and start a family with. The only guys that have ever really shown some form of respect to her are Naruto, Neji, Choji, and Shikamaru. But most of them are already in a relationship. Not that she'd go for either Naruto or Neji, Naruto's just to hyper and Neji's just to emotionless. She thinks that Choji is secretly with some girl who's family own a local restaurant, and she personally thinks that Shikamaru may be having a fling with that one sand kunoichi that's always coming to town. Just thinking that maybe just maybe Shikamaru is with that woman she get gets this small ache in the pit of her chest and starts to feel a little sick.

'_Why does this always happen when I think about him with her?' _

As she gets closer to the bar she has a sinking feeling, and second thoughts appear. _'What am I even doing here? They can all celebrate without me. What if he still ignores me? Why do I even care if we stop talking anyway?' _ She knows why it bothers her so much but she prefers to act like she doesn't in hopes that it's not true. She's about to turn back when she hears Sakura call out to her from Hideyoshi's.

"Ino where over here come on in!" Ino has a small smile at hearing her best friend call out to her.

"Yea, yea okay. I'm coming!" She yells back in a teasing voice.

When she got inside the bar she saw just about everyone from their small group of friends. She saw that Neji and TenTen where already leaving.

"Neji! TenTen! Where are you guys going I just got here you guys can't be leaving already."

"Oh, well you see its already getting late. And Neji and I have a meeting with the Hyuga clan early tomorrow." TenTen said in an apologetic voice.

Ino looks up towards the sky to see that the sky is dark looking, almost as if it were 8 or maybe even 9 at night.

"What time is it?" Ino suddenly asks.

"It's half past 9." Neji states calmly.

"Oh, okay. Oh uhm I'm sorry that I came so late and we didn't get a chance to catch up."

"No its okay Ino. We'll just catch up at another time." TenTen says to reassure Ino.

Ino watches them walk away from the bar. And walks towards the bat, wondering just how long she spent daydreaming to herself earlier.

As soon as she got in the bar she could hear the noise of drunken shinobi in every part of the bar. By this time next week he will have been assigned a Genin team of his own to teach and lead, she thinks to herself wondering, if she would ever have a team of her own to and also where was that good for nothing lazy guy at.

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A/N: This is my first story. If you have any questions don't be afraid to PM me. I won't be able to update as fast as I would like, so let me just say sorry beforehand.


	2. When I Get Home You're So Dead

Sorry that it took me so long to update this thing. I went to the **Spring Fever Tour** earlier in April, **computer issues** with my little brother, got really into **Paramore's new album**, **drama** in school and with friends, had to take my **TAKS tests** and **AP exams**. **Finals are next week** and the **internet box** at my house for some odd reason doesn't work, and I've had the chapter on my flashdrive but **no internet**. :/ But **summer is coming** pretty soon, so I should be able to update more! And I have a **few more ideas** for stories that I would like to start, one more just came to me but I'll just keep that in my head for now. Okay now I'll just shut up and let you all read.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto or else things would be so different in the Manga right now. Like For real I am so serious about that. Lol Masashi Kishimoto owns it not me. Also in this story, if you haven't yet realized, Inoichi, Shikaku, and Neji are still alive! (:

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**Chapter 2: When I Get Home You're So Dead**

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As she was walking through the bar Ino could hear the music pounding loud against the speakers, the loud shinobi cheering for everyone they knew that was being promoted. She spotted the pineapple haired shinobi by the opposite end of the room. He was getting another drink. Hideyoshi's and many of the other shinobi bars in Kohona let shinobi drink at the age of at least 16, that's why they decided to celebrate at Hideyoshi's, since they were all 17 and 18 with a few of them being 19.

Ino could hear Shikamaru a few feet away, which isn't really usual for him. He's one of those guys who aren't really heard, who only speak up when it counts most and only talk to their family and friends.

She walked up to him and tapped his shoulder. He turned around and looked at her with an unreadable face.

"Ino?" He asked.

"Hey, Shika I just wanted to congratulate you on being prompted." She told him.

"Oh, thanks Ino." He says it as if there was ever really a question as to why she was there, tapping his shoulder for his attention.

"Hey Ino!" Screams a really loud voice next to Shika, she looks to the side of Shika and see a patch of sunshine blonde hair.

'_Gee I wonder who that could be.'_

"Hey Naruto." She replies to him.

"Sakura-chan was looking for you earlier. I don't if she's found you yet, so if you see just tell her you're here." He tells her.

"Oh, alright. But she had already found me; she was one of the first people I saw tonight."

"Really?"

"Yup." She told him honestly. She watched them go back to their conversation. "Uhmm, I'ma go look for Sakura real quick, I'll be back in a little bit guys."

"Okay." Replied Naruto to Ino.

"Kay' Ino." That's all Shikamaru told her.

How did they grow apart so much? They used be so close to each other. They were best friends… Ino recently found out that she might have a small tiny crush on him, she knows for sure that she likes him a little more than a just a regular, but she also likes him less than a regular friend. It's like he's her favorite person but at the same time he's her least favorite person. And after this discovery she started to distanced her self from him a little more each passing day, and a little after that he started working towards being a sensei for the next round of kids coming out of the academy. He said it was his duty as a shinobi of the Leaf village to help its future. She knows that he's very devoted to the village, and she thought it was great that she wouldn't have to see him as much, she told him that was great and he should his best to achieve it. But really she just wanted some time and space to sort out the mixed emotions she's been feeling for him lately, not mention that one sand kunoichi that's always with him when she comes around.

It was times like this she just wanted to ask him what was really going on with her, why was she always hanging around him. What was his exact relationship with this woman that no one really knew much about? Why was it that when ever she came to Konoha she would only be seen with Shikamaru?

She knows that since Shikamaru and her have been such close friends for so long that they could ask each other anything, she could ask him anything. So why isn't that she couldn't bring her-self to ask him those few simple questions that anyone else who hadn't known him as well, or as long, would be able to ask?

Was it that she was just too scared to hear his answers to these simple yet difficult questions? Was it that if she heard something she didn't like she might brake in front of him? She didn't want to get hurt, that's why she didn't want to him. It would get weird between them and she didn't want to mess up their friendship, they've been friends far to long to mess it up, and not only would it affect them two but everyone else as well. It would also affect the way they work as a team. She knew that he was the only one that could really break her if she let him. But if his answers to her questions where in her favor, the possibilities were endless.

She knew either way that things would change between them, and she wasn't really sure if she was prepared for those changes. She knows its best if she just takes it slow and let whatever it is that will happen, happen. There's nothing she can really do without facing some consequences of her actions.

Shikamaru knew something was going on with Ino. He could sense the way she changed. They used to hang out every other day, but now he was lucky if he saw in passing her once a week. He saw how she was withdrawing herself from the group outings with the team, but he just decided to give her some space. He knows from experience with Ino that it was best to just wait things out; things would fall into place on their own.

He knew these things but he wasn't really letting it go just for her. He also needed some time of his own to think about how the way they are with each other has changed. She's no longer the girl who invested all of her time trying to impress some boy, the girl that had a strong rivalry with her one best friend. No she wasn't that little girl no more, she had grown and matured. Her and Sakura were back to being best friends, with playful teasing and everything, she still focused on her looks a little but it was more for herself than to please a guy. And he found himself drawn to the new Ino.

She was his best friend; they knew everything about each other and did everything together. But for some odd reason he was starting to feel like that wasn't enough. Something inside of him wanted more than just being her best friend. He started to distance himself from her as well for these reasons. He didn't want to mess up their friendship; he knew that she wouldn't want someone like him. She wouldn't want someone who was a '_lazy know it all who thinks everything is troublesome'_, as she had once called him. He knows all this but he still can't help the way he feels when she's around him. A part of him still wants to try and have more than just a friendship. She's the only person that can make him feel the things he feels when she's by him. He needed to talk to somebody about this, he would've told Chouji but it would've just been weird, he knew his next closest male friend was Naruto so he decided to tell him, he just hopes that Naruto can keep his loud mouth shut for once.

Automatically when he began to tell Naruto his problem Naruto thought he was talking about Gaara's sister Temari. After quickly correcting Naruto that it wasn't Temari at all and telling him it was Ino, Naruto was left a bit stunned.

"Wow, are you serious!? Well, its about time you admit it. I'm not all that surprised actually I kind of saw it coming. The only shocker here is that you decided to tell me."

"Are you for real? You knew? Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"And they call me dumb." He whispered so low Shikamaru wasn't really sure if he even said it at all. "You know Shikamaru for a smart guy, you're kind of dumb."

That's when Ino had came and congratulated him. Surprisingly Naruto shut his mouth about the subject and knowing that Sakura had already found her, after arguing with Shikamaru that he wasn't going to say anything, sent Ino off looking for her any way.

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A/N: I know there are mistakes in there, but I just wanted to try to get this out sooner to all of you who have waited so long for this chapter.


	3. I'd Rather Make Mistakes Than Nothing At

At first I really wanted to name this chapter **Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades**. But I noticed that I've named all of the other chapters after a song by Mayday Parade, so I decided what the heck, might as well do that with the rest of the chapters as well. XD So that's why this chapter is named **I'd Rather Make Mistakes Than Nothing At All** (I almost named it **A Shot Across The Bow** but I think that'll be the next chapter). The last day of school for me is June 6, 2013! That's this Thursday people, I can't wait. There are no more finals for me, so for the next two days during class I might be able to work on the next chapter.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto or anything else that might seem familiar.

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**Chapter 3: I'd Rather Make Mistakes Than Nothing At All**

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After sending Ino to go look for Sakura, Naruto and Shikamaru went back to their conversation.

"So if you think you really like Ino then, what's going on with you and that sand girl?"

"I've already told you this once before. I'm just her escort for when she comes to town since we would work together to prepare for the Chunin exams. There is absolutely nothing going on with me and her. I can't even really stand her when she's around. She likes to act like she's the boss of me or something." Shikamaru says exasperated.

"Oh, so you're 100% sure about that right?" Naruto replied to him with a hint of mischief in his voice.

"Naruto I'm absolutely positive. Why?" Shikamaru says slowly.

"Just making sure that if I help you try to get with Ino I won't have some crazy chick try to kill me for taking her man from her."

"Naruto that sounded so wrong and thanks for trying to help with this and all but, I'm just gonna leave things as they are."

"What? No, if you like the girls then at least try to get the girl!" Shikamaru quickly threw his hand over Naruto's mouth.

"Shut up! Lower your voice." Shikamaru gave Naruto a death glare, telling him to lower his voice or he'd hurt him.

"Oh ease up Shika. This is a celebration for your accomplishment, so lets get fucked up!" And he ordered more drinks for the both of them.

Ino found Sakura rather quickly after leaving the guys. While Ino wore a nice black dress Sakura was wearing a gray knee length dress with light pink flowers on the seams.

"Sakura, Naruto told me to come over here and talk to you. I guess he and Shikamaru wanted to get rid of me for some privacy."

"Oh Ino don't mind them. They were probably just having some guy talk. It's like when we have our little girl talks and sent them out the room." She told Ino with a small giggle.

"Yea, I guess you're right but still I want to know what they were talking about. I don't know why but the curiosity is eating at me."

"Well, lets just drink it off. I mean lets just take it easy for now and maybe after a few drinks we could go over to them and get them to spill what they were talking about if it's really brothering you that much." Sakura was now just trying to reassure Ino that it was no big deal.

"Yea. We should just relax and do what we came here to do celebrate! Let's go get us some drinks." And with that she led Sakura to bar.

After awhile both girls were a little more than tipsy. And they were playing sober really good. They meet up with a few of their friends at the bar, at a table in the back. Altogether it was Sakura, Ino, Kiba, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji. TenTen and Neji had already left, Hinata's father didn't let her go out with the rest of them this time, Shino tends to stay away from the social scene and Lee has to stay away from alcohol. The six of them were all having a good time just goofing off and letting lose with each other.

"We should all get together more often than just for celebrating." Choji told the group with a wide smile.

"Yea, you're right we should. We should all go out every weekend or every other weekend or you know whenever everyone is free." Kiba yelled really loud, as usual.

"I think that would be great, just grab everyone and hang out on a Friday or Saturday night. Don't you think it'd be a fun thing to do Ino?" Sakura asked grabbing Ino arm excitedly. Ino started to think about it.

"Sure, I guess it would be good. That is as long as nothing bad happens." Ino told them.

"Why would something bad happen?" Choji and Shikamaru asked at the same time.

"Are you kidding me?! Have you not seen how Naruto and Kiba cat when they've had too much to drink?" Ino told them. "Not to mention how Lee is on a regular basis. With those three out together you know something is bound to happen." Sakura busted into a fit of giggles and shortly after so did Ino.

"Hey we're not that bad!" Kiba yelled as if she where across the room.

"Yea. I'm not that bad out in public! Kiba isn't really all that bad either, though I can't say much for Lee. Well it's not like he tries to make a fool of himself sometimes." Naruto started to defend his friends and himself.

"Yea what Naruto said. It's not the poor guys' fault that bad things tend to happen to him. Plus have you seen the way that you and Sakura are? And I'm not talking about when were out in pubic I mean just in general." Kiba tried to defend him friends as good as Naruto but he tripped on his words.

"What do you mean by that, you damn dog?!" Sakura started to shout and had a vein throbbing on her forehead and her fist ready to swing over Naruto and hit Kiba.

"Calm down Sakura. You know Kiba tends to think before he speaks." Ino tried to keep her best friend from murdering one of her friends. "And you!" She then turns her gaze to Kiba. "Nobody meant anything about you being you. Just the way you three act when you're all out together. You like to think that everywhere you go is your home or a training ground. Well it's not; you have to calm down and not yell so loud or get so crazy."

"Pshh. Yea whatever. I think I'm gonna leave now." Kiba said to the group.

"Really Kiba? You know that Ino and Sakura don't really mean anything by that, they both love you and all but they hate when someone talks about them." Choji said trying to convince his good pal to stay for a bit longer.

"Oh, that yea I know that. It's just that I kind of wanted to go by Hinata's place before I go home." He told them while rubbing the back of his neck. "And if I stay any longer I'll get home really late and her dad might not let me talk to her. You know how over protective he is." Kiba sheepishly told his more than half drunken friends.

"Do whatever you gotta do Kiba!"

"Don't yell Naruto. Kiba's right next you, you don't have to be so loud." Sakura hit Naruto with her elbow and scolded Naruto for his loud outburst.

"Ow Sakura-chan! You didn't have to hit me." He said with a pout.

"Oh yes I did you big baby. You wouldn't have learned your lesson if I hadn't hit you. Quit whining I didn't even hit you that hard."

"You don't realize how strong you are or how hard you hit." Naruto told her.

"Well, yea, uhm bye guys. I'll see you around" Kiba walked off and waved them goodnight.

"See Sakura-chan you scared him off."

"Shut up Naruto or I'll hit you for real this time. I don't care how much you've had to drink." She gave him a look to let him know that she wasn't playing with him.

"Okay."

Soon everyone started to leave slowly. An hour later the only ones that were there were the members of team 10. During that hour they drank and joked around like they did during the old times.

"Hey guys. I'ma head home before I'm to drunk to walk home." Choji said slurring a few of his words.

"Aww don't leave so- so soon Choji!" Ino said trying to get Choji to reconsider and stay.

"Ino this place is gonna close in a bit. It's almost 12 my parents will be wondering where I am." He tried to reason with her in her drunken haze.

"Come on Shika tell him to stay. You haven't really even said anything tonight" She reached across the table to shake his arm.

"Let 'em do whatever he wants Ino. You wanna go home Choji? Then go ahead and go. Have a nice night." Shikamaru told Choji.

"Thanks Shika. Good night Ino." He turned to Shikamaru. "Can I ask you to do something real quick?"

"Yea, sure go ahead. But don't let it be to troublesome."

"I know you've had a bit to drink but your more sober than I am. Can you make sure Ino gets home alright? You know how Inoichi is. If anything were to happen to her he'd go after the both of us, after finding out we were the last ones with her."

"How troublesome. But I see your point so yea I'll make sure she gets home okay."

"Kay thanks. Goodnight Shikamaru."

"I'll see you later this week Choji."

After Choji left, Shikamaru went back to the table to keep Ino some company.

"Shika! Everyone left the party already. What's there to do now?"

"I don't know."

"Hey you just got a new apartment right? Can you show me around it. You probably nee help with decorations anyway."

"Tch. So troublesome. You want go right now?"

"It doesn't really matter. We might as well go now, everyone's left now."

"Come on. Let's get go then. But you can only stay for awhile and then I have to take you back to you're house."

Shikamaru lead Ino away from the once crowded bar. Somewhere along the way to his new apartment they started to hold hands and sweet talk about the good times between just the two of them, neither one bringing up the recent space put between them. Once they got to Shikamaru's apartment he let go of her hand to unlock and open the door.

After he turned on the light in his small living room he turned around to talk to Ino but she kissed him. He was shocked at first but he didn't feel like thinking about what he was doing, so he kissed her back with as much enthusiasm.

They didn't know what they were doing or were things were leading up to. All they knew was that they didn't want to stop.

He wanted to tell her something, that they shouldn't being doing this, anything. But he just couldn't get the words out, he was all choked up. He knew there were a few things he needed to get off his chest but he couldn't just blurt it out now. He was tongue tied and terrified of what he'll say to her in this state of mind, or lack of state of mind for that matter.

There's got to be another way that he could say it but he knew to get it right he'd have to think straight and with the amount that he drank tonight, he knew for certain that thinking straight wasn't possible right now.

She started to run her hand under her shirt, and he started to lead her to his bedroom. He knew that they were possibly making a mistake but the way he saw it tonight was that he'd rather make mistakes than nothing at all. He remembered when they would talk everyday and he promised her that they would never grow apart like they did and he didn't know how to begin how to explain how this all happened.

They both knew that things would change between the two after this. He was hoping that she wouldn't hate him in the morning when this was all over and they were sobered up. While she was hoping their friendship wouldn't be completely destroyed after the damage she knew she had a small part of causing.

And knowing that their actions tonight would have consequences later they both went on with what they were doing. Neither one fully aware that the other was hoping the same thing they were; that they wouldn't hate one another when they wake up in the morning and that they would still be friends.

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A/N: Yea, I don't really like the way that this chapter turned out in the end but oh well maybe later on down the road I can go back and change it a bit. Don't be afraid to PM if you have any suggestions or questions. And thank you to all of the people, who reviewed, followed, and/or put this story on their favorites. This chapter is the longest chapter I've done for this story 2,023 words, 6 pages! Anyway please let me know what you think of this chapter and if there's anything I could do to make it better. Okay I'm a NaruSaku fan and I don't mean to offend any NaruHina fans but did ya'll read the last chapter! Eepp Naruto told Minato that Sakura was his girlfriend "more or less" and she didn't exactly deny it! I can't wait for tomorrows chapter now. XD P.S i have two open polls on my profile right now and I would appreciate if you all would go and vote. ^.^


	4. Without The Bitter, The Sweet Isn't As

I had a bit for trouble starting this off when I started to work on this chapter on Wednesday. And I worked on it last night not there might be a few mistakes every now and then.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto or anything else that might seem familiar.

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**Chapter 4: Without The Bitter, The Sweet Isn't As Sweet**

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The next morning Ino woke up when she felt the sunlight hit her face. The bright sunlight wasn't helping the hangover she currently felt coming on. After rubbing the sleep from her eyes she realized she wasn't in her room at her house; the sunlight didn't wake her every morning, she naturally woke herself up. She was in an unfamiliar place. She looked around and when she saw the sleeping shinobi next to her side the memory of the night before came back to her.

With the memory came guilt and awkwardness. Guilt because she knew she was the one to insinuate it all, but then again he didn't try to stop her and he went on with it as well. Awkwardness because she had just slept with someone she wasn't even in a relationship with, it was awkward because it was Shikamaru she had just thrown her virginity to. It was Shikamaru who she had stayed the night with the very person who had been plaguing her thoughts lately. She started to replay the night in her head trying to find the exact moment when she let things go to far, when things began to change.

While she was thinking these thoughts the pineapple haired shinobi began to stir in his sleep, symbolizing that he was about to wake up soon. She quickly got out of his bed and looked for her clothing when she found she had absolutely none on. She quickly found them in a pile on the other side of the room and when she finished putting them on he woke up.

She turned and saw that he was watching her, observing her. Needless to say it was a bit awkward and there was tension in the air between the two.

"Ino I-" Shikamaru begun but was quickly cut off.

"I'm sorry Shikamaru it was my fault, I shouldn't have done that. I need to go home. My dad is probably going to kill me for staying out so late and not coming home last night." She told him quickly.

"Oh uh yea. Okay." Her dad! He didn't even think about him, he was probably serching the village for her. "Ino?"

"Hmm?" She started to look for her shoes so that she could leave.

'_I need to go. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't have even came here last night in the first place. What was I thinking? Was I even thinking? I know I didn't have that much to drink.'_

"It wasn't entirely your fault alone. And please don't tell your dad. Inoichi would kill me if he found out what happened!" He told her seriously but trying to lighten the mood, even if just a bit.

"Shikamaru? We should just forget this ever happened. Can we just pretend last night never happened?" She turned around and saw he wasn't that far from her and he was fully dressed now.

"Hai. Whatever you say." He was thinking to himself.

'_What if I don't want to forget? I just don't want your dad to know. Ino please don't hate me. And please don't let your father find out, I wasn't joking when I said that he'd kill me for this. '_

"Shikamaru?"

"What?"

"Uhmm. This is the first time I've ever been to your new apartment and I don't exactly know where the front door is."

"Oh. Okay just follow me." And he led the way for her.

"Shikamaru. I-I'm sorry for everything. I should really get going now daddy will be worrying about me."

"Oh, I told Choji that I would take you home last night." He wasn't all that careful with his words, not with the thoughts that were swimming through his mind.

"You kind of did take me home last night, just not my home." She tried to joke with him about the current situation to possibly relieve some of the tension.

"I-uh. That's not what I meant. I told him that I would make sure you got home safe you know that if anything were to happen to you Inoichi would come after the both of us." Once they got to the door neither one knew what to say.

What are you suppose to say? Maybe something like 'Hey we may have slept together and possibly messed up a lifetime of friendship but let's just forget about it and act like it never happened.

"I know that wasn't what you meant. And hey I'm alive, aren't I? I'd say you did what you said you were gonna do. And I'm not some kind of helpless doll that needs her teammates to always watch over her. I'm a big girl who's old enough to take care of herself, thank you very much Mr. Nara."

'Mr. Nara' that's how he knew he said something he shouldn't have. When she refers to him as Mr. Nara he's really set her off.

"Ino. Don't be so troublesome I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that your dad trusts us with you." He said trying to calm her down.

"I'm sure he does." She said to him in a sarcastic tone of voice. "But that doesn't matter." She turned around to look at him. "Don't call me troublesome when you know damn well it was something that you said. Good day Shikamaru." She turned to leave.

"You sure you don't need me to walk you home Ino?" He asked her with a somewhat nervous look on his face that she wouldn't see since she had her back faced to him.

Ino took a deep breath. "No you don't have to do that Shika. I'm fully capable of walking home on my own. I am 17 after all."

"Okay. Bye Ino."

"Bye Shikamaru."

With that said Ino quickly set off to her house, where she was 100% certain that her father was there pacing back and forth in the living room wondering why his 'princess' never came home last night. She took a big sigh. She had no idea what she would tell him. Obviously she couldn't lie and say she stayed the night at Sakura's, she was bound to be the first person he'd ask about her. Inoichi knew that Hinata wasn't going to go out with the others so he wouldn't ask her nor would he ask TenTen considering that the two didn't know each other that much. And she knew she couldn't tell him what happened, he would march off to Shikaku's house and demand the whereabouts of his son so that he could murder him for touching his daughter in such an inappropriate manner.

'_He must be going out of his mind with worry. And Mom, oh my I wonder what's going though her mind right now!?' _

What would she tell her mother as well? Her mother was a nice lady but she was rather ruff around the edges. With her father being one of the best members of the Konoha torture and Interrogation Force and her mother being almost being able to read her like a book, she knew that this would be a hard situation to explain. Than again she doesn't have to tell them everything that happened. Just that it was too late to walk home so she stayed the night at Shikamaru's. She doesn't need to tell them what happened while she was there.

At the doorknob to the front door Ino took a deep breath, and opened the door. And just as she predicted, he father was pacing back and forth muttering to himself about "how she'd never out this late something must have happened" while her mother, Junko, sat on the loveseat watching her husband.

"Ino your home! Are you okay princess? What happened? Why are you home so late? Didn't I tell you not to come home to late? Something bad could've happened to you." Inoichi quickly bombarded his daughter with questions.

"Daddy. Slow down. One question at a time, I'm okay. See no cuts." She stretched out her arms so that he could see that she was okay. "It was pretty late when everyone was leaving so I stayed the night at Shikamaru's. And as you can see I'm alive and perfectly healthy. So if I can, I would like to go eat some breakfast and take a nice shower."

"Next time find a way to tell us that you're okay, or tell us you're going to stay over at someone's house. And yes you can go eat and shower." Inoichi was filled with relief that his only child was okay.

Ino went to the kitchen to eat a quick breakfast. After she was done with her food she went to her room's personal restroom so that she could take a quick shower. She started to go through the cabinet, looking for something that she could take for the irritating headache that came with her hangover. She took some quick headache relief pills and started to undress for her shower. When she undressed she saw she that she had a few love bits and hickeys on the top of her neck which was luckily hidden by her hair when she was talking with her parents, or else she'd be in a lot of trouble.

'_Shit I didn't check for any markings. Why would he leave any? I'll just have to cover them with makeup and leave my hair down.'_

After she was done with her shower she dressed and covered up what needed to be covered up she stayed in her room for the rest of the afternoon, and let her thoughts run wild in her mind.

'_Why would we do that? Why didn't he try to stop it? He's supposed to be the smart one. This is going to mess up everything, no matter how hard we'll try to pretend it never happened we'll both know it did. Our friendship could be ruined permanently.'_

"What have I done?" She asked herself out loud.

Without thinking where she was going she got and decided to leave after telling her parents.

"Mom, Dad I'm going out for a little."

"Ino be careful and come home before it gets dark. Please." Inoichi asked her, fearing that he might be up all night worrying about her whereabouts again.

"Yea dad, I'll only be out for a few hours the most. I should be home by dinner."

"Okay then. Bye, have a good afternoon Ino." Inoichi walked out the living room after saying bye.

"Oh Ino, can you do me a quick favor?" Junko asked her daughter.

"Uh. Yea sure I can mom."

"Can you please take this to your aunt Mebuki?' Her mother asked holding up a bowl of homemade mochi.

"Okay Mom." She found out where she was going to spend her afternoon. Mebuki wasn't a real blood aunt but she and Ino's mother are such close friends that they felt like they were related. And since she was already going to Sakura's house to drop something off she might as well stay there and hang out with Sakura. Maybe then she could get her head clear.

Her mother handed her the bowl and she left the house. Once she got to the Haruno household she knocked on the door and Sakura answered the door.

"Hey Ino. What's up?" Sakura asked opening the door so that Ino could enter her home.

"Nothing. Just the same old same old." She told Sakura lifting up the dish she had brought with her so that her friend could see.

"Are you serious, they're up to that again?" Sakura asked with a bit of excitement. Every once in a while their mother would send each other some of the desserts that they've made. Sakura and Ino never complained about it either, they would get to have free yummy desserts.

"Yup, I think so. Hey where's your mom so that I can give this to her?"

"She's in the kitchen."

Ino went into the Haruno kitchen and saw Mebuki standing in front of the stove making what seemed to be pancakes, with bowl all around her.

"Auntie Mebuki, my mom told me to bring you this." Ino handed her the small bowl.

"Oh good you're here Ino. Are you going to stay awhile?" She said place the bowl on the table to behind her.

"I think so. Why?"

"I told your mother I'd send some doriyaki to her this weekend and since you're already here and it's almost done I was thinking that you could take it to her when you leave."

"Yea sure I can."

"Okay I'll just call you down when it's done."

Ino went up to Sakura's room and knocked when she saw the door was closed.

"Come on in, Ino. I just moving some stuff around." She opened the door and saw that Sakura was moving her furniture around.

"Let's chill, Sakura."

"Sure, what do you think we should do?"

"I don't know I was kinda hoping you had something in mind. Anything is okay with me really."

"We could just stay here and watch a movie or two?"

"Yea let's do that. Your mom wants me to take something back home and I don't really feel like going out today."

"What? Ino Yamanaka doesn't want to go out. Are you sure that you're okay? Do you have a fever or something?" Sakura said in mock shock that her best, the social butterfly who's always out, wanted to stay and not go out anyway.

"Haha. I'm perfectly fine. Why does everybody keep asking me if I'm okay?!" Ino asked frustrated.

"Gee calm down pig I was only joking with you. I didn't really mean anything by it." Sakura said eyeing Ino suspiciously. ""Ino are you sure that you're okay? You seem a little off to me. What happened?'

'_She's never this angry over a simple question. I wonder what happened.' _

"Who said anything happened?"

"So something did happen. Are you going to tell me what happened or not? It might make you feel better if you get it off your chest."

Could she tell Sakura what really happened last night? She was after all her best friend. And best friends tell each other everything. Who know maybe she might feel better if she were to tell her. She knows that Sakura could keep it a secret.

"Fine. I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else, at all." She saw Sakura shake her head yes. "Sakura promise me you wont say a word to anyone. I don't want anybody else to know what happened."

"This must be really serious then. I promise I won't tell anyone else."

"Okay. Uhm. You know who last night everyone started to leave the bar and I was one of the only ones still there." She saw her nod her head yes.

"Yea. It was you, Shikamaru and Choji who were left." She noticed that Ino squirmed a bit at Shikamaru's name and looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Well not long after you all left Choji left and I don't know why but I asked Shikamaru if I could see his apartment and he said yes. After we got there, I don't know what made me do it, it was probably all those drink we had, I kissed him And one thing lead to another, next thing I know I'm waking up naked in his bed, with him next to me. We said we would just pretend it didn't happen but I just needed to tell someone."

"Wait. You had sex with Shikamaru?!"

"Don't be so loud your mom or dad might hear. But uh yea I guess I did."

"Wouldn't you have thought that he would think sex to be to 'troublesome' for him?" Sakura said laughing.

"You know what, now that I think about yes, anything's too troublesome for him. I'm surprised it even happened."

"Oh trust me I'm surprised to. But don't worry I won't say anything to anyone. Your secret's safe with me Ino. So wait you woke up at his place?"

"Uh yea. Then I went home as quickly as I could. I knew my dad would've been wondering about me. Why?"

"Nothing. I was just wondering why your dad called us asking if you had stayed the night. I told him that the last time I saw you, you were with your team."

"I knew he'd ask you where I was. Well lets just watch the movies until your mom calls me down."

"Okay." Sakura put in the movie and halfway though it her mother came in.

"Ino honey, the doriyaki is ready for you to take it to your mom." Ino got up off of the bed and took the bowl from Mebuki.

"Thank you Mebuki. I'm sure my mom will love them. Well I should probably get going now Sakura I told my dad I'd be home early for dinner today." She made her way to the front door and turned around to see Sakura and Mebuki right behind her. "Bye. I see you around." With that she left the Haruno household and was on her way to her home.

Once she got home she went straight to the kitchen to see if her mother was there, which she was.

"Here mom these are from Mebuki."

"Oh that's wonderful Ino, now go wash up dinner will be ready soon and your father will be home from the flower shop any moment."

"Okay mom."

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AN: I didn't exactly know how to end this chapter but I eventually ended here, or else I probably would've put another couple hundred words in here and I wouldn't have updated until Tuesday. This isn't my best chapter but I think it's good enough. Let me know what you think. Any who these updates have been kind of fast for me. Lol and if you haven't noticed every chapter gets longer. I think the next chapter might be Tuesday or later so don't except anything this weekend, these chapters are getting harder for me to put in words. I have it drawn out in my mind but it gets hard when I'm in front of a computer.


	5. The Memory And The Silence

I was going to name this chapter "**Everything's An Illusion"** but I think that I'm going to name the next chapter that instead 'cause "**The Memory" **and** "The Silence"** are a bit better for this chapter because they correspond with each other and that's kind of what this chapter is about the silence they have as the after effect and the memory of what's happened. I kind of what to change the story's name to **A Lesson In Romantics** but I'm not sure, what do you think? Should I change the summary to?

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**Chapter 5: The Memory And The Silence**

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A few days had passed since the 'incident' without them running into each other. It was almost as if they had purposely been avoiding each other. And they were, at least for a few days until the shocked had left their systems and then they would have everything go back to normal, well that's what they kept telling themselves.

Avoiding each other physically was going really well. Ino wouldn't ever go to the Nara's Pharmacy, where she knew sometimes Shikamaru would have to run a errands for his father and drop off something, and Shikamaru wouldn't go anywhere around Yamanka's Flowers, where he knew that Ino would sometimes work for her family. Avoiding each other was pretty simple the first few days, even when Choji would come around to them individually and suggest they all go out and have team training. Shikamaru would usually say he's getting his stuff ready for the genin team was about to be assigned and Ino would say that she had to work for her dad or that Lady Tsunade wanted her to spend a few hours working on her medic training.

They hadn't seen each other at all, until they started to see each other while they were walking in the village. They would look up and sneak a glance at the other then take off as fast as they could in the opposite direction. Physically avoiding each other was easy compared to mentally avoiding each other. They couldn't escape their thoughts.

They hadn't had to talk to each other since the morning after. And then one day when Shikamaru was hanging out with Choji and they ran into Ino on her way home from the shop and Choji insisted that they all go out like old times.

"Come on Ino, it'd be fun." Choji told her with begging look on his face.

"I don't know Cho, I just got off and I'm a little tired." Ino told him, trying not to hurt his feelings. Not only had she just finished her shift but she wasn't entirely comfortable hanging out around Shikamaru not long after the other night.

"Come on Ino, it'll be just like old time. You can even choose where we go. Please!" He was really trying to convince her.

"I don't know. I'd have to tell my dad first."

"We could do that, right Shika?" He turned to look at Shikamaru, who was right behind him.

"Tch, troublesome. Choji if she doesn't want to come, than don't make her." He told Choji, Shikamaru wouldn't admit it, but he was still a little uncomfortable around Ino, he was still filled with guilt and other conflicting emotions about what had happened between them.

"I never said I didn't want to go Choji, it's just that my dad wants to know where I am. He told to me to tell him where I'm going and how long I'll be out, I guess that you could say I'm grounded. But not really I just need to inform him where I'll be." She told him of her current situation.

_At dinner later that night, that she had came home late, Inoichi had some things to tell his beloved daughter._

"_Ino you do realize that you had me and your mother worried last night right? You almost gave me a heart attack." Inoichi told her._

"_Yea dad I know. And I'm sorry but time had just slipped away. I told you it was late so I just stayed at Shikamaru's place." She told them hoping that neither her mother nor her father would realize that she was with holding a few things from them._

"_He lives somewhere by the place you went to?" Her mother asked, finally entering the conversation._

"_Closer than we do." She told them as her mother placed her plate of food in front of her._

"_You should really be careful when you go out. What if Shikamaru didn't live close then what would you have done? Ino I would really feel better if you were to tell me where you're going and how long you'll be gone, just until you're responsible enough to come home when you're supposed to, at a decent hour."_

"_I am careful when I'm out dad! I'm a kunoichi, I think that I can handle myself. I don't really see why I would have to tell you were I am and how long I'll be there. Are you going to start asking me who I'm going to be with while I'm out to?" She purposely avoided answering the question the question that involved Shikamaru._

"_Honey I know that you're a kunoichi that you can handle yourself, but that still doesn't stop me as a father from worrying about your whereabouts when you don't come home. You're my little girl I'll always worry about you. And beside Ino it's just for a week or two that you'll tell me where ever it is that you're going and then this whole thing will just fade away and you'll be free to do things like you normally would." Inoichi looked his daughter in the eye the whole time he said this._

"_Why are you both making such a big deal out of this? You're both just too stubborn for your own good. Why can't you both just agree to something?" Junko said eyeing both her husband and her only child._

"_Sorry mom. And okay daddy. I'll tell you whenever I go somewhere, where I'll be and for how long I should be out, but just for two weeks."_

"_Okay Ino. That's all I ask."_

_After finding an agreement that they both could agree on the Yamanaka family went on with their meal in peace._

"Ino I always knew that your dad could be a bit overprotective and go overboard every now and then but really, you have to tell him where you're going?" Choji asked.

"Yea. Why? Do you have a problem with it? 'Cause if you do then you could just go on without me." Ino told him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No uh no problem here. I'm just curious, why do you have to tell him where you'll be? What'd you do though?" He asked munching on a bag of chips she hadn't noticed at first.

"I didn't go anything! My dad's just over exaggerating things. So what if I was out later than expected, I'm 17 almost 18 I can handle myself. And as you can see, I'm perfectly fine." At this Shikamaru started to pay more attention then he was at first, those were almost the exact same words she told him before she left his place the other morning.

"So this is all just because you stayed out passed your curfew?" Choji asked her.

"More or less so. He just said that I worried him and needed to tell him where I'll be when I go out for the next two weeks, since the other I almost gave him a "heart attack" by keeping him up waiting for me." She put air quotes on heart attack, trying to get Choji to see things her way. Trying to be discrete and not give any details about what she meant, but she knew that it was pointless and that Shikamaru would probably know what she was talking about right away.

And she was right Shikamaru exactly what she was talking about.

So she was right and her father was worried about where she was when she had been with him. How troublesome, he had got her in some sort of trouble.

'_I wonder what she told her father when he asked her about where she was. I know she wouldn't have told him what really happen.'_

"Well Ino if you were out that late I see why he would tell you that." Choji told her.

"Cho, you're suppose to be on my side not his! Ugh. Whatever if you want me to go with you then either wait for me to tell my dad or go with me to tell him. I'm sure when he sees that I'll just be with you guys he wouldn't mind how long I'm out."

"Okay, come Shikamaru lets go with Ino." Choji said looking back to his other teammate who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

"What a drag. Let's get going then." Shikamaru followed his teammates to where Inoichi was.

After informing her father that she would be spending the rest of the evening with the rest of Team 10 Inoichi gladly let his daughter go with them, no questions asked about how long she'll be out and when will she come home.

'_Just as I thought whenever Shikamaru or Choji are involved he'll let me do whatever. He trusts them with me, but should he really trust me with them? I am the one who started everything that night.'_

Even after telling Ino she could pick where they would go Choji kept suggesting the BBQ place as always and Ino just went along with it.

"Sure. Whatever."

"Awesome! Come on Shika let's go." He said trying his best to get there as quickly as possible.

There was an awkward silence from the moment the team sat down at the table and Shikamaru and Ino tried to sit as far away from each other as possible. Shikamaru saw that Ino looked like she was avoiding him and he was wondering how was he suppose to smile and make believe he doesn't feel a thing, it just doesn't work for him. He couldn't look at her without now know what he might feel for her while she looked like she wanted nothing to do with him. While they were eating Choji started making a few jokes every now and then to try and lighten up the tense mood.

'_When she smile, its got nothing to do with me' _Shikamaru thought to himself watching his teammate from the other end of the table.

Choji decided he'd start a conversation since neither of his teammates seemed to be in the mood to do the talking.

"So Shikamaru, you have a team now?"

"Yea, the troublesome little brats."

"Who all is on your squad?"

"Hiro Kobayashi, Eito Takahashi and Katsumi Nakamura. But I've only known them for a few short days so I'm not entirely sure of what to think of them."

When they were done they all said there goodbyes to each other, that they would see each other soon and to take care. Everyone had there own things to do and missions for Shikamaru's team would come up soon.

It had been almost a month since Team 10's day out. Ino's birthday was in a couple of days. As she got up she decided to get her day going, she had slept in later than usual today. She noticed that for the past few days she hadn't been feeling well. She would've gone to see a doctor or someone but she didn't think it was that serious.

'_I just have to wait it out. Just a few more days and it should all just end.'_ Just then she felt extremely nauseous and ran to her restroom to puke. "On second thought maybe I'll just Sakura to do a quick check."

Before she left the house she decided that she would tell her parents that she was going out for awhile.

"Mom!" She didn't get answer so she tried to call her other parent. "Dad!" She went to look for them in the kitchen they weren't there. _'I guess they're both out.'_

Once she got to Sakura's house and they went up to Sakura's room into had told her that she hadn't feeling all that well lately and after talking about what all was wrong with her Sakura said something that completely shocked her.

"Ino I think that you might be pregnant." She said it slowly as if that would help her friend not get scared out of her mind.

"What? Haha No! Come on forehead, I'm being serious with you." Ino yelled getting a bit angry and a little scared at the possibility.

"Pig! I am being serious with you." Sakura told her.

"Well no that's not it, I'm sure its something else." Ino told her stubbornly.

"Will you just a test or two to be sure?" Sakura asked her.

"Hmm I don't know, 'cause if I take a test that's implying that it's possible, which I know for a fact that it isn't."

"Come on Ino. It won't hurt you just to check."

"Fine but not now, later after I've already gone home."

That's how she found herself a few hours later lock away in her bathroom, staring at not one but four positive tests.

"Ino, come down for dinner. We have guests over." Her father was calling her down to eat and here she was having one of the biggest crisis' of her life. What was she suppose to do? She didn't want to get, right now the thought of food was making her queasier than she already was.

'_This can't be true, Sakura and all these tests are wrong. They just have to be wrong. They have to be wrong but I know they're not. What am I going to do now? Now I'll always have a memory of what happened. I knew we wouldn't be able to forget it.'_ With that thought she felt her tears start to fall.

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A/N: I know it's not as long as the last chapter but that's 'cause I don't feel so good and I know that I cut it off at a bad spot and didn't get to put everything that I wanted to in it, but I just wanted to get out this out to you guys soon since I said I would most likely put it up on Tuesday and its Friday now.


	6. Everything's An Illusion

I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who's followed and reviewed this story and also those who put this story on their favorites list. You guys are so awesome! I didn't think I'd get that many. Anyway guys if you have any questions about anything in the story so far don't be afraid to PM me, and you can also leave some suggestions if you want. I just might use some.

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**Chapter 6: Everything's An Illusion**

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She didn't know how long she stayed in the bathroom sobbing on the floor. She heard her parents call her down a couple of times but she just couldn't bring herself to stop crying and get up. Besides she didn't have much of an appetite right now. She tried to stop her noiseless sobs so now she was just sniffling. She heard a knock on her door.

"Ino, come on down. They sent me up here to get you, said you were taking to long." She's heard that voice so many times that she'd recognize it in her sleep, it was his voice. What was he doing here? Wasn't it bad enough that she had just found out she was pregnant with his child? Now he's her at her house. What is she suppose to do? To think?

"What is it? What do you want?" Even though she heard exactly why he was up there she asked him what he wanted. She just couldn't think of anything else to say. She just hoped he couldn't tell that she was crying or she just might blurt out what she just found out.

"Are you okay you don't sound that good? And I already told you, your parents want you to go downstairs." Something about her just seemed a little off to him.

"I'm fine just go. I'll be down in a bit." Without another word he left, and she had to reassemble her composure or someone might tell that something's up. She knew that she'd have to tell him at some point, but she just couldn't not when he was here, at her house, with both of their parents. After quickly disposing the four positive tests she had just taken, she looked herself over in the mirror, making sure there wasn't any trace of her tears.

After she fixed a few things here and there she decided that she looked decent enough to go downstairs, where she knew keeping a calm façade was going to be hard. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs she could hear her mother and Yoshino talking about something, and her father and Shikaku laughing about another thing, meaning she'd be alone with him once they all sat down.

"Oh Ino there you are. I was starting to worry about you, I sent Shikamaru upstairs to get you but he came back down without you. Are you okay?" Junko asked her daughter with nothing but concern in her voice.

"Yea mom, I was just in the bathroom."

"Are you still sick? I think you should go see someone about that Ino." There was nothing but worry for her daughter in her voice. It just made In sicker, her mother was here worrying about her, thinking she was sick when she was just pregnant. She felt as is she was lying to her even if she hadn't yet lied or denied anything. She just felt bad about the whole situation.

"Mom, its fine, I just have to wait it out and then it'll be over." Well it was technically true she wouldn't be like this forever.

"Okay, whatever you say. But if you're still sick after a week I will personally drag your behind to a doctor if I have to." Junko looked Ino in the eye, as they all sat around the table, letting her daughter know that she meant it. Ino looked down at her food and shook her head.

'_Gee what a joy it'd be to have you find out what's really going on. I'll have my head chewed off and probably kick out the house. What am I talking about? I don't even know what I'm going to do. Either way if mom and dad found out I'd be dead. What am I going to do?'_

"So uhh mom, dad? Why do we have company over today?" She just had to ask, what were the Nara's doing at their house. Even if it sounded a bit rude, she wanted to know why they were here, why _he _was here.

"Ino!" Her mother hissed softly to her, letting her know that she thought what she did was disrespectful. When she looked up to see her mom she could see a small glare forming on her mothers face.

"What? I was just asking a question." She rather be anywhere but here right now, anywhere but sitting across the object of her current confusion.

"Ino the Nara's are here, because well yours and Shikamaru's birthdays are in a few days and we all wanted to celebrate together since we figured you both would have other plans on your birthdays." She should've known that! Their birthdays were just a day after each other and the two families were such close friends that they would sometimes celebrate together.

"Oh." She went back to eating her dinner but she had been lost her appetite with this nasty feeling she had in the pit of her stomach. What was she going to do? She really needed to deicide soon. She picked up her head to quickly look at everyone around the table. Instantly she felt sick, what would happen if they all found out? What would they say, think or do?

With all of these thoughts running through her head she quickly found the need to throw up. She tried her best to hold it in but she just couldn't. She got up and looked to her mother. Junko's head quickly turned when she heard someone getting up from the table.

"Ino honey, you look pale!" Junko said quickly getting up to go to her daughter's side.

"Mom, I don't really feel so good, I'm going to go to my room." Ino didn't even wait for her others response or anyone else's for that matter, before running upstairs, leaving everyone downstairs. She just wished she could've left everything about them downstairs, but she knew that now she couldn't.

'_There is always going to be a piece of them with me now.'_ She thought to herself as she slowly placed a hand on her still flat abdomen. _'What am I going to do now?'_ She asked herself while throwing up in the restroom.

When she was done she decided to take a shower and go to sleep early.

The next morning her mother insisted that she go the doctors, the only reason her mother didn't threaten to drag her was because Ino told her that she would go see Sakura right after she ate a quick breakfast.

"Ino I just don't see how you would want to move out when you can hardly take care of yourself."

"Mom I'm a big girl I can take care of myself. And we've been over this. I'm almost 18. I'm not a child anymore. I'm mature enough to live on my own." She told her mother while going though the fridge. After eating she quickly took off to Sakura's house.

"Sakura I don't know how this can be true."

"Well how many tests did you take?" Sakura asked Ino trying to see if there was a chance it could've been wrong.

"I took four different kind and they all said the same thing! I just don't know what to do."

"Well just look at your options and pick the one that you think is best."

"That's just it. I don't know what's best! Obviously I'll just have to have it and keep it." Ino told her.

"Is that want you want though? This is entirely your decision." Sakura told her, trying to help confront her best friend.

"Sakura I just can't do the other options, that's just not me." She couldn't help herself, the tears just started to flow out her eyes, the same tears that she'd been fighting since telling Sakura that her suspicion from the other day was right.

"Okay well, you know you have to tell him right?"

"Sakura, I-I just can't, not right now anyway. I wouldn't know what to say."

"You'll have to tell him eventually."

"What am I going to do? I'm not married I'm not even with anyone! What will my parents say? You know how they are, especially my mom! They'll be so angry! And disappointed, I don't think I can take that." Sakura flinched at bit at that. She knew how Ino's mom was. She was very traditional in her beliefs; and one of those beliefs was that it was customary for a woman and man to be married before they had any kind of sexual activity, let alone have children. Ino's father was very protective of his daughter, she was after all his little girl and only child, the only guys he truly trusted with his precious daughter were Shikamaru and Choji and that's only because they all basically grew up together and he was best friends with their fathers.

"Ino, it'll be okay. You'll get through this and I'll be here for you the whole time, no matter what. You know that."

"Sakura, I told myself I'll be fine but that's a lie. I don't even know how this happened!" Ino threw her hands in the air in frustration.

"Ino I think there's a lot of things here that we have to talk about."

"Yeah, but I just don't know."

"Well you know what you're going to do about it don't you?"

"Yeah, I'm going to keep it."

"Okay well that's one thing we've got down."

"I just don't understand how this happened, it was just one time."

"You know how this happened. Ino you know that all it takes is one time. But how did things even go down with you two anyway, last time when you told me you didn't say much."

"I don't know, we weren't thinking, we were drunk. It just happened. It was an accident, a mistake. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"Ino, I know you. Things like this don't just happen with you. You don't go out and do this kind of stuff when you've had too much to drink. A lot of guys try to talk to you and you don't even give them the time of day. Personally I think- I think that you might've wanted to do what you did."

"Are you blaming me for this?! You think I asked for this to happen?!"

"No, no that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that I think that you might have feelings for him. I know you and you're really good at judging you actions, I don't think you've would've spent the night with some guy unless you felt something for him."

"I don't want to talk about it."

'_I don't want to talk about it but deep inside I think I'm falling for him. Even with everything's that's happened I think that I might- I might love him.'_

"Ino I get it you don't want to talk about something like this right now, but you know you will have to eventually."

"Sakura it's not that, it's just that I honestly don't know right now. This has been something that's been on and off my mind for the past couple of months."

"Okay, so you do feel something for him. Don't try to say you don't, I see the way you are around him, it's like you're a different person almost."

"Sakura, please. Not now. I know what it looks like but you have to look at the whole picture here. What happened between us was a mistake; it wasn't supposed to happen no matter what I may or may not feel for him. He's my teammate; he's almost like family to me. And doesn't he have something going on with that naggy sand kunoichi?"

"Either way it doesn't matter right now. You say nothing was suppose to happen and okay maybe it wasn't suppose to happen but it did, mistake or not it happened. And now you can never forget that. There's nothing to lose if you tell him that you might have feelings for him."

"I know that. And there's everything to lose. I could ruin our friendship and this child's life if I mess things up with him. I'm just going to push aside how I feel for this little baby that I have inside. Right now what I feel for Shikamaru doesn't matter, what matters right now is what we're both going to do about this situation that we're in."

"Ino you said it yourself he's like family, well now he is family, at least to you. You've known him since you were born, he wouldn't ever intentionally hurt you, he's always protected you. So if he doesn't feel the same I think he would let you down easy. I'm not saying you have to go and tell him about what you feel, but please just think about telling him. It could actually benefit you."

Later that night Ino was in her bed trying to sleep. But her eyes just stayed open the whole time and she couldn't really think straight, her heart was breaking. What was she going to do with a baby? What will her parents do when they find out? She knew that she wouldn't be able to hide it long, and even if she was able to hide the fact that she was pregnant, how would she explain coming home one day with a baby? She just wished that she could start over, but she knows that she could never start over.

Now she's finding out in the hardest way the consequence of every mistake she's ever made. But when she thinks back at it, it all just goes back to the first kiss of the night; it was the one she thought she'd never miss. Oh how she was wrong. It was the one thing always going through her mind.

'_I just wish that my head would clear up and that I'd stay safe from any problems. This is a wrong night. I pray that my future brings no pain.' _As she looks to the sky to count the stars she wonders if he sees them from where he is. _'What am I suppose to Shikamaru? I know I need to tell you, you have a right to know. But I just don't know how to tell you or when. You've already got other things to do; you don't need a baby in your life right now. I want to make this easy for the both of us. Maybe when I wake up none of this would have happened; maybe this all just a dream, and illusion of some sort.'_

"What should I do? Shikamaru I don't want you to hate more for something I have no control over, something I never planned for. Just please when I tell you don't hate me." she whispered to herself.

'_It's better to get things done sooner, so I'll just bottle up all my fears and tell him tomorrow. The sooner he knows the sooner he can help me decide what should be done. I just hope I know what to say.'_

Shikamaru lay down in his bed staring at the stars in the mid-night sky. Sure he was tired from training with his team earlier but he just couldn't stop his mind from wondering to her. _'I knew it, she hates me. Why else would she show such disgust at seeing me yesterday? I wonder what's going on with her, her mother said she hadn't been feeling well for almost a week now. I hope nothings wrong. There you go again. Just leave it alone Shikamaru, forget about her, she doesn't want you, she doesn't want anything to do with you.'_ He groaned in frustration. _'I know that she doesn't want anything to do with me. I know that that night had been a mistake, but I still can't stop myself from thinking about her. I can't stop myself from feeling the things I feel for her. I don't even know why I feel this way for her when I know she doesn't care about me the way that I care for her. I know this but I still feel this way for her. There's just something in me that's telling me to go for it and try.'_

He remembered how the other day she looked uncomfortable with him and his parents being at her house for dinner. She looked a bit scared. _'Was she sacred that I would say something in front of our parents? I don't think that's it, she knows I would day anything that would let any of them find out what happened. No that wasn't it, there's something else going on, I just need to find out what going on with her.'_

Shikamaru was trying his best to do what Ino had told him. Forget about it. But it seems like the more he try's to forget about it, the more he remembers it. No matter what he just couldn't forget. And nothing could get her off his mind, even when he has work to do she's the one thing on his mind. Deep in his heart he's always known that he felt a little more for Ino than just a simple friendship or close family friend. That's why despite his lazy demeanor he's always tried his best to protect her; he never wanted to see her hurt. Even to this day, he'd do anything she asked or needed him to do.

He knows that the awkward silence they have now will just wash away soon. But maybe he could speed things along a bit and try talking to her. Maybe he would even get her to fall for him like he's fallen for her. He knows that he's going to have to pick up the pieces of their broken friendship, no matter how much she blames herself for what happened, he was at fault to. He could have stopped at any moment if he didn't want to do anything but he wanted it just as much as she did.

'_Maybe that's why she was acting that way. We've known each other for so long and she blamed herself for what happened so I doubt she hates me. She just thinks it's all her fault. I'll have to talk to her about that among other things. Maybe I'll go talk to her on my day off sometime this week. I should really try and fix this; maybe I can make things between us better than before. I know I want to be more than just friends with her. I don't want anyone else to feel what I feel for her. Maybe I should ask for a little help. Though it might be hopeless considering no one knows her like I do.'_

"Heh how troublesome. I might actually be in love with that loud blonde woman." He chuckled lightly to himself at this. "Oh if dad knew he'd just laugh at me. Mom would be overjoyed. If only I could get her to feel the same. Maybe if I play my cards right I can get her to love me back. Feels weird to say it out loud, even if it's just to myself. It might be obvious that I like her but I'm sure it's just not obvious enough for her to just plain out see it. Ino I hope you keep your heart open wide for me 'cause I can't just make believe that we could be just friends anymore. I've played along for far too long. I never saw this coming and I'm supposed to be a genius." He knows what he wants to do, but there's just this stabbing pain he has that says he lack the common sense and confidence to make this happened.

'_It's hard to be a man, but I'll do all I can to man up and try to get what I want. And right now I want her to be mine. I ready to give this I all I have, no matter how troublesome it'll be I know that in the end it'll be worth it. I'm hopeless but hoping'_

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A/N: Okay I'm sure there are a bunch of errors, it's 3 in the morning here and I'm not that good at typing let alone in the dark. I couldn't sleep and this is what a giant cup of coffee will get you, me staying up past 3 A.M just to finish this chapter for you lovely people. :D listening to my two favorite bands All Time Low and Mayday Parade. This is the longest chapter. I'll start working on the next chapter later today or later this week.


	7. Walk On Water Or Drown

Some of the paragraphs I write are inspired by whatever song I'm listening to at the moment so don't blame me if they sound depressing. Blah I've barely had any free time to work on this chapter.

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**Chapter 7: Walk On Water Or Drown**

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When Ino woke up the next day she told herself that since she decided last night that she'd tell him today, she'd tell him around lunch time so that she could clear her nerves beforehand. After getting ready for the day she decided that while she had time she'd go over to the flower shop where her parents were working at this morning.

She hadn't been in the shop for a while since some of the fumes from a few flowers were making her nauseous her parents decided it'd be best if she took a bit of a brake from working at the shop. So when she walked in she was amazed by the new flowers they had recently put into stock.

"Wow." Said Ino in pure adoration of the beautiful flowers was seeing.

"Well good morning to you to princess." Inoichi's voice was soon heard behind his daughter.

"Oh. Good morning daddy. Wow these flowers are beautiful."

"Well, we do have a beautiful daughter to help inspire us. Don't we Inoichi?" Junko said walking out the storage closet.

'_You've got no clue of what I've done. If only they knew what a horrible daughter they really had. If they knew what I really was they wouldn't be this nice. How can a monster be beautiful? I'm such a horrible person, but it wasn't even all my fault. It was his fault to. That's why I have to tell him.'_

While having her inner dilemma her parents walked off to the front of the shop. She could hear them going on and on about how she was such a good person.

'_It's killing me to know that they think I'm better than I am. When I look into their eyes and see the look they have I know I'll never be able to them the truth. Maybe it would be easier to lie about this whole thing. No what am I talking about; I've already made up my mind on what I'm going to do. Lying would just make things worse when it all comes out.'_ When she looked up to the clock on the wall over the counter and saw the time, she decided she'd leave then.

"Uh mom, dad I gotta get going, I kind of made plans for today so I'll see you guys at home later."

"Okay Ino. Don't come home to late." Her father called after her.

"Okay dad."

After she left the flower shop she figured that Shikamaru would be wrapping up training with his name team now, so she should try the training grounds. After searching multiple training grounds for half and hour she was about to give up after going to this last one. When she got to the training ground and didn't see anyone at first glance she was about to let out a sigh of frustration, until she saw him with three little kids, two boys and one girl. One boy had black hair with amber colored eyes, the other boy had dark red hair that was sticking out in crazy spikes and blue-green eyes, and the girl had dirty blonde hair with light gray eyes.

'_Okay I found him. Now I just have to wait until they all go so I can get him alone and tell him what I need to tell him.' _As she was thinking this she started to walk closer to him. While she was walking she saw that the three genin started to look up at her instead of Shikamaru, with curious looks on their faces.

Shikamaru turned to look behind him when he noticed that his teams' attention wasn't on him but on something or someone behind him.

"Oi, Ino what are you doing here?" He looked and saw his students trying to listen in on whatever it is she was going to say. "You three can leave now, training's over for today."

"Shikamaru sensei you can't just cut off training 'cause some random chick came to talk with you!" Hiro yelled. Shikamaru sent a glare at the dark haired genin.

"Hiro I'm not cutting off practice, practice was over anyway, that's what I was telling you guys." Shikamaru told all three of the genin. Not only was practice over for today but Ino looked a little off, and he didn't want his squad eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Shut up she's probably his girlfriend or something." Eito said low enough so Shikamaru wouldn't get mad if he were to over hear it.

"Shika sensei doesn't have a girlfriend so don't start making up any lies Eito. And even if he did have a girlfriend she wouldn't be that ugly. Right Shikamaru sensei!?" Katsumi said with a hint of envy in her voice. When she looked up she saw that her sensei and the platinum blonde had already walked away from the trio.

"What is it you were saying Katsumi? Not his girlfriend. Well he does look pretty cozy with her to me." Hiro told her with a sarcastic attitude and a smirk on his face.

"Oh shut up! What do you know? I'm telling you that girl isn't his girlfriend." She shrieked.

"Do I sense a bit of jealousy and envy coming from the Katsumi Nakamura?" said Eito.

"Why are you both trying to start a fight with me? Shouldn't we see why that _girl_ came here?" She said the word girl with nothing but disgust.

"Nah, I don't think he's in any danger. I mean he did go off with her willingly and totally ditched us." Hiro said watching his sensei walk off with this mysterious lady.

"Fine think whatever you want to think but don't blame me when something happens to him then."

"Jealousy doesn't suit you very well. Right Hiro?"

"Hey, I'm not in this. You two like to fight over everything. I think I'll stay out of today's lovers quarrel."

"I told you not to call us that!" Katsumi yelled with a small light pink peach blush dusting her pale cheeks.

"Oh, you see that Eito she's blushing. She totally likes you." Hiro said with a satisfied look on his face.

"Shut up Hiro before she kills us both. We all know who she likes anyway." Eito said out load with a sour tone to his words. Katsumi looked up with wide eyes.

"I don't like anybody so that's I how I know you're both lying." Katsumi denied quickly.

"Really teachers pet?" said Eito.

"Than what was all that jealousy over a pretty lady talking to sensei?" Hiro told her.

"I wasn't jealous, I was just worried about the possibility that this stranger might do something to him. And she was not pretty. Did you see her or are you blind?"

"Yeah, she might do something to him, like steal him from you, oh wait he was never yours in the first place!" Eito yelled out to her.

"Why are you getting so jealous if you say she's not pretty? I don't think sensei would agree with your opinion of his lady friend."

"Ugh! I don't even know why I'm still here putting up with you two. You heard Shika-sensei training's over for today." With that Katsumi walked away from her teammates.

"Hiro why did you have to go and say all that stupid stuff?!" Eito asked after Katsumi had left the field for good.

"I didn't say anything stupid, I just said the truth. She acts like she like you but then she acts like she likes sensei. I'm tried of always being in the middle of your fights. And it's not like everyone doesn't already know that you like her." Hiro told Eito.

"You're the worst cousin ever!"

"No I'm not, you're just mad because Katsumi likes Shikamaru sensei more than she likes you."

"No I'm not. And I don't care who she likes, I've said it so many times I don't like her! I'm leaving, I'll see you at practice tomorrow."

"Uh huh okay whatever, bye. And everybody knows that you like her! So stop trying to deny it Eito." Hiro yelled to his cousin that was walking away from the training field.

"Whatever. Let's just go." Eito said stopping for his cousin to catch up to him. Even though he didn't want to hear his cousins teasing about the small crush he has he didnt want to walk by himself.

"Uh, I'm sorry about that Ino. My genin are a bit nosey and I knew they'd try to listen in on our conversation." Shikamaru said sheepishly.

"It's okay, I was just going to wait until they left to talk to you."

"So what's up? We don't have a mission I forgot about or anything, do we?"

"Uh no there's no mission, I just came here to talk to you about something." Ino told him nervously.

"Okay well you got my attention. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" He eyes her with caution, whatever she wanted to say could be something good or something bad. He should probably prepare himself for both.

'_I came here to tell you the truth but looking at you I don't think I can do it after all. Can you not see the guilt in me? That would just make it worse.'_

"I-uh…it's something that's kind of important." She started warily.

"Well if it's important shouldn't you just hurry up and tell me?" He asked her with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"Don't rush me!"

"This is so troublesome. Are you going to say something or not? 'Cause if you're not then I think I'll just leave then." He knew he sounded a bit harsh but this was Ino. She was a bit stubborn and needed an extra push sometimes.

"I'm trying my best to tell you something really big here and you're just being a big jerk about it Shika." She started to sniffle as if she were holding back tears. "Why do you have to be so mean to me Shika?"

Shikamaru's eyed widen when he saw that she was about to start crying. "Ino I was just messing with you. I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Man this is so troublesome, please don't cry. I'm sorry. I just wanted you to hurry up and get to the point."

"No, it's okay. I really need to get to the point and just tell you what I came here to say."

"Okay, I'm listening." He said facing her with a blank look on his face. He appeared bored but was paying attention nonetheless to whatever it is she had to say.

'_I wanna say all the things I need to say but I just can't get the words to come out. He's already listening so I'll have to tell him something. And I can't just lie, I need to just say it honestly. My tongue is so weak, every time I open my mouth to talk I can't say anything at all. This is gonna be hard, but I have to do it.'_

"Okay, well it's some big news and oh Shika please don't hate me after I tell you this. I never meant for this to happen. I swear I didn't, I mean it!" Ino wailed frantically.

"Ino! You're freaking me out. Why would I hate you, you're Ino? Come on you know I wouldn't hate for anything. So just stop crying and tell me what's going on." He told her slowly wrapping one arm around her shaking shoulders. She pushed herself away from him and turned her back from him. Ino's behavior was starting to worry Shikamaru so he did the one thing he knew that could somewhat calm his nerves. Take out a cigarette to smoke. "Come on Ino. Just say whatever it is you have to say. You know I won't hate your for whatever it is, it'll be okay. You're starting to worry me."

"Shikamaru, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, I wished I had control over this but I don't. You know it's not my fault right? I'm just too sacred to say the things worth saying, the things that need to be said."

"What are you sorry about Ino? Are you okay? You didn't hit your head or anything did you?"

"I'm perfectly fine!"

"Than why are you over here freaking me out?"

"Shikamaru…" she stopped, hesitating and debating on what to say next. She bowed her head down, looking at the ground beneath them, her feet, anything expect his face. She couldn't stand to see the look on his face when she broke the news to him. "Okay here it goes, I-I'm pregnant." She told him with her voice shaking.

The cigarette fell to the ground from his mouth and his eyes widened.

"Wha-what did you say?"

"I'm pregnant." She whispered in a small voice.

He was left speechless and searching for words to say. He knew it was his if she was but maybe she was wrong, that's a possibility, isn't it? Maybe she had just had a case of food poisoning or the test she took was wrong.

"Are you sure?" She started to nod her head.

"Yeah, I took four tests the other day." She told him. She actually told him, she had gotten the words to come out her mouth. She had got enough courage to tell, but soon she started to sob lightly to herself. "You know it's yours, right?"

"This is so troublesome, I didn't mean for this to happen. And of course I know it's mine Ino. I know you and you wouldn't have been that sacred to tell me if it wasn't. I'm sorry Ino." Four tests all said the same thing? That she was pregnant with his kid. He knew the possibility of all four being wrong were small.

Well that made her feel a bit better; he didn't try to deny it. He didn't imply that he thought she was some kind of slut or anything. No he didn't try any of that because he knew he was the only one she'd ever been with. He knew that he had taken her virginity that night. He went silent again. He was taking this all too calm she was starting to worry that he might run off from this responsibility. She couldn't take if he ran he was the father after all and that means half the blame and responsibility went to him as well.

"Ugh." He let out a frustrated groan. "I'm so dead. If Inoichi doesn't kill me for this then I'm sure my mother will." She couldn't help but let out a light giggle. "Oi, what are you laughing about? What part of this situation if funny to you? You know how your parents are they'll get you to."

"I'm just relieved that I don't have to do this all alone, that you didn't hightail it out of here as soon as I told you." She told him honestly.

He looked at her with hurt and disbelief in his eyes. Did she really think he'd do something like leave her alone when it was his fault that she had gotten into this mess in the first place?

"You didn't really think that I'd runaway from this responsibility did you?"

"No I didn't think anything. I was just scared and I didn't know what do or think. I'm just glad that I don't have to this alone."

"As if I'd run out and leave my kid alone with you, you troublesome loud woman."

"What exactly is that suppose to mean Shikamaru?"

"Nothing, so uh who else knows?"

"It's just you, me and Sakura that know." He nodded his head before going into more questions.

"When did you find out?"

"The other day before dinner when you and your parents came over to 'celebrate' our birthdays. I still have no clue what I'm going to do on my birthday and its just a few days away."

"Neither do I and mines even closer, it's about two days away. I'll probably just watch the clouds pass. Anyway that doesn't matter right now. Why didn't just you tell me right away when you found out?"

"I don't know maybe because I was scared and going crazy. And your parents were there and my parents were there. Imagine if they knew!" She screamed.

"Oi calm down, it was just a simple question. And you do know that they're going to find out sooner or later, right?"

"I'd prefer if they found out later or never."

"Ino you can't hide something like this for long. Maybe the sooner you tell them the less likely they'll go completely crazy."

"Are you kidding?! You know how my mom is, and my dad! Uh they treat me like such a child sometimes… They'll be mad regardless of when they find out. And I don't want to face the disappointment that I know they'll have for me."

"Ino you know they won't disappointed in you. Knowing your dad he'll blame me for it all as soon as he finds out it was me that knocked up his 'baby girl'. Heck as I said before he'll probably try to kill me. So if they'll be disappointed in anyone it'll be me, because it's my job to protect you and look what I've done."

"I don't need protection; I can take care of myself."

"Is that why you're pregnant, because you don't need protection?"

"No, I'm pregnant because I got drunk and slept with an insensitive moron!" She cried out to him.

"Don't blame me for it! You went to my house and came on to me. Not the other way around." He yelled back not caring if anyone heard. She can't just come up to him to play the blame game.

"Well you didn't try to stop anything from happening, and I was drunk." She wasn't going to back away from this argument and neither was he.

"Well so was I." He didn't want to argue with her, especially now. She'd probably kill him if he ticked her off enough.

"Whatever Shikamaru. Just don't say anything to anyone about this just yet, I'm still not sure of what's going to happen."

"What do you mean you're not sure what's going to happen? You weren't thinking about getting rid of it or anything were you?" He doesn't know why but for some odd reason it stung him to think that she didn't want his child.

"Huh no, I meant I don't know what's going to happen as far as telling other people and stuff like that. I couldn't consider do that to a child that I had a part in making. Why would I do that to the poor little thing? It's never done anything to me. Why, did you- did you want me to?"

"What no. I'd never ask you to do something like that. I mean we just have to step up and face the consequences of what we've done."

"Yeah, I guess that's right." She said turning to face the fleeting sun, After a comfortable silence she heard him start to talk again.

"So… I'm going to be a father?" He asked somewhat nervously.

"Whether you like it or not." She told him in a small voice.

He followed her gaze and saw the worry she had on her face. "You know you don't have to do this all alone, right? I'm here to help with all of it. I got you into this mess so I'll stick around until the end."

She knew that he was very responsible and would help out, but hearing those words she felt a heavy weight fall off her shoulders. She knew that they were still to young for this responsibility but having him say he'd help brought her more comfort than she knew she needed. But still he knew that this was going to ruin his life, whether he'd admit it or not, she knew. She looked over and saw him offering her a small smile.

'_You don't see the guilt in me, and that just makes it worse.'_

"Yeah, I know." She said with a small smile finding its way on her lips. She couldn't take it anymore; she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Sure was relieved that he would stick around and help but she didn't want him to hate her for ruining his life. It would hurt her too much if her were to hate her for something that neither one had planned.

"Oi, troublesome woman why are you crying? What's wrong?" He asked frantically looking around to see if anyone had came around the far end of the training ground. The last thing he needed right now was to be seen with a crying Ino.

"Shika-Shikamaru please don't hate me. I'm sorry; I didn't plan for this to happen."

'_That's what she was going on about, me hating her? I've should've known considering that's all she would say at first. If only she knew that I could never hate her.' _He let out a heavy sigh before he began to speak.

"Ino, I don't hate you and you know that. I told you earlier. I know you didn't plan this and I didn't expect it to happen but it did and now it's up to us to face the consequences." Stepping toward her he slowly put his arms around her, and whispers softly that it's okay. "Listen to me Ino. It's alright, you'll be fine okay? So please stop crying."

"Okay." She pushed herself out of his tight warm embrace slowly, and turned her back to him. "I get it you don't hate me." She let out a small laugh. "I really should be going now, I didn't expect to be here this long and I told my dad I wouldn't take long."

"Okay. I'll uh- see you around then Ino." He told her sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. With that she left him watching as she started to walk towards her home.

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A/N: This chapter was mostly inspired by** 'Easier to lie'** by **Cassadee Pope**. Well anyway let me get to the point I'd like to once again thank everyone who has reviewed, followed or put this story on their favorites list. I'm trying to update every Tuesday and if not Tuesday than Fridays but stuff has been coming up lately. These past few days I've hardly had anytime to write. I hope this chapter wasn't to boring for any of you.


	8. Center Of Attention

Okay I know I was suppose to put this chapter up on July 2nd but I left with my aunt on Wednesday and didn't get home until Saturday then I got into these really good K-dramas I found, then my mom had surgery and I've been busy since then, but hey I'm here now writing … well er typing this chapter for you lovely people.

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**Chapter 8: Center Of Attention**

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Shikamaru lay down on his bed with a thoughtful look; he was still processing what Ino told him hours earlier. Now what was he suppose to do? He had just gotten it through his head that he wanted to be more that just friends with Ino and now he was, just not what he was really aiming for. They were going to do some kind of co-parenting thing or whatever. He doesn't even really know what's going to happen all he knows is that he got her pregnant and that he was going to help her raise his child. Offering was the least he could do since he's the one who helped get her in this mess. He knew what exactly at stake here: her future. Things were going to be crazy now, well whenever Ino's involved of course it's bound to be crazy, but this was going to be out of hand crazy.

What were their parents going to say when they found out? What would they say to their parents and their friends when they find out to? Not to mention some of the older villagers who always seemed to have an opinion about Ino. This will just fuel whatever petty rumor they were spreading around about her this time around.

What were they suppose to do? When should they tell their parents? What would happen after that? Would their parents disown them and throw them out? Or would they be thrilled to have a grandchild, even if they're were barely turning 18 themselves. So many questions were running through his mind and for once the genius didn't have any clue on how to answer any of them. All these thoughts run wild though his head as he falls asleep.

Two days later, his birthday, he saw Choji dragging a half asleep, Ino towards him and his team, saying something that sounded like "I don't want to be here."

"Shikamaru!" Choji yelled.

"Choji you didn't really drag me out of the shop just to see Shikamaru did you?" Ino told him. Ouch! Just to see Shikamaru, what exactly was that supposed to mean? They hadn't seen each other since the other day when she told him the big news.

After that the two started to argue about how they needed to celebrate as a team for their upcoming birthdays. Ino was in favor of them each doing their own thing while Choji wouldn't have any of it, saying they would all do it together.

"Shikamaru, what are you doing today?" Choji asked his best friend.

"What does it look like? I'm going to train these brats for awhile and then who knows what I'll do. Why?" He saw that Ino was trying to hide behind Choji. "Really Ino, you're hiding? You would think that right now you'd be mature." She looked up to him an unreadable expression on her face, she wasn't mad right? He was just teasing her!

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean Shikamaru?!" She came out from behind Choji and stood in front of him poking his chest with each word. With every word she poked harder, and he had to admit it actually kind of hurt.

"Nothing, I was just teasing you. You don't have to be so damn troublesome."

With a loud huff, she turned her back to him. "You're picking on me again, as always and here I am trying to be a good friend and come visit you on your birthday. You know I didn't have to come here? The thanks I get for remembering your birthday."

"Choji was dragging you, while you were saying you didn't want to be here and you didn't really have much trouble remembering my birthday. It's been the same for 18 years now, the day right before yours. That's probably the only reason that you remember it!" He calmly told her, and when he looked towards her he saw the shocked expression on her face.

"That's not why I remember it Shika! You're one of my closest friends so of course I'd remember your birthday, it just so happens to be really close to mine. Shika, why are you being so mean to me?!" Did he honestly think that the only reason she would remember his birthday was because it was the day before her own birthday? No he wasn't that cruel he must be messing with her, well she can play that game to. "Choji make him stop." She turned with a small frown that quickly turned into a curious look when she turned to Choji and saw that he just stood there laughing at the two.

"Oi what's so funny?" Shikamaru asked before she could.

"Nothing, it's just that I was worried that you two had gotten into a big fight or something since I haven't really seen you together for awhile, but when you two started teasing each other like old times I knew that everything was fine and I was just over thinking things."

"Yeah everything's fine." Ino let out a nervous giggle, so Shikamaru thought he needed to also say something.

"Why wouldn't everything be fine?" He questioned his good friend rising his eyebrow.

"I don't know. I mean I know you two tend to tease each other but sometimes I'm not even sure if you're playing or if you mean whatever remark you said this time. And last time when you got into a really bad fight you didn't talk to each other for a week. And well we all haven't been hanging out as much for awhile so I thought that maybe there had been another fight but this time worse."

"What? No we're not fighting."

"We haven't all hung out because well we're a bit busy. I work at the shop and train with Sakura and Lady Tsunade and Shika has a genin team now."

While Shikamaru was talking with his old teammates from Team 10, his genin were watching and trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"What do you mean you don't get to all see each other much? She came by and talked to Shikamaru sensei a few days ago." Said Eito.

"Yeah I remember he made us end practice since she came. It better have been something important." Hiro muttered the last part where only he could hear.

Now it was Choji's turn to look confused. "You saw each other the other day?"

"Uh yeah. You know how are parents are about us celebrating out birthdays together right? Well the Nara's came over the other day but I was a bit sick and went to bed early, so I was asking Shika to apologize to his parents for me."

"Oh. Well you're better now aren't you?" Choji asked her.

"I'm fine Choji. Seriously let's just do what we came to do."

"Okay if you say so. Uhm Shikamaru so you wanna go to the usual BBQ place for your birthday, my treat? Come on we need sometime to hang out as Team 10."

"And what will I do about team." He motioned his head to the three genin that were behind him.

"I guess they could tag along if they want to. Right Ino?"

"Huh? Oh uh yeah. Sure why not?" Ino answered unsure of what she should've said.

"Hey do you want to go with me and my old team?"

"Yes!" All three excitedly said at the same time.

While Team 10 were talking about old times Shikamaru's new team, Team 4, were discussing their sensei and his new guests.

"See I told you they had to be really good friends." Eito told his two teammates.

"Well I don't care how long they've known each I still don't like her," Katsumi told him.

"Oh come on don't be like that Katsumi. You don't know her she might actually be a good friend. I mean look, sensei sure seems to like her." Hiro tried to get all three of them to agree that this mysterious blonde girl might be the good person like she seemed to be, not just him and his cousin but also the female member of the team.

"Hmp. You can't be too careful with her kind. Looks can be deceiving you know? For all we know she can secretly be working for another village and is plotting to kill Shika sensei or something like that."

"Come on, not even me and Hiro would think of something that dumb. You're just jealous that she has a better chance with Shikamaru sensei than you do."

"No I'm! I know for a fact he wouldn't want someone like that. And all I'm saying is that we should probably keep an eye on her for awhile."

"Both of you just shut up! Katsumi if you want to tail her for awhile than fine by me I don't care as long as I'm not involved, if sensei finds out about this he won't be too happy."

"Trust me he won't find out Eito will help me. Won't you Eito?"

"Uh yeah! Wait what will I do?"

"Just shut up and listen to me. When I tell you to do something do it."

"Uh Shikamaru I think your genin stayed behind fighting." Choji said after noticing the genin were way behind with angry faces aimed at one another.

"Troublesome, just leave them behind. Trust me they'll catch up, they always do. No matter how hard I try to lose them I can't they always come back every five fucking minutes."

"Shikamaru, you're their squad leader of course they're gonna keep coming back to you! What did you honestly expect when you agreed to the job?" Ino scolded him.

"Yeah, I mean come on Shikamaru they're just kids what did you expect them to do? You can't just ditch them, you're responsible for them. I wouldn't want to see you as a parent. Imagine what'd you to the poor kid." Choji said lightly but also seriously.

Shikamaru felt Ino tense up a bit at what Choji decided to say so he thought he should defend himself.

"Come on Choji, you and I both know that they don't need me every five minutes. That's why we never get any work done; they constantly bicker and call me to stop it. And we both know that if it were my kid it'd be different if they were under the age of 12 and I'm not held responsible for those little demons back there." Shikamaru said trying to defend himself.

"Hmm I don't know Shikamaru, you might think it's too troublesome to watch over a kid. I'd hate to see you as a parent. Right Ino?" Choji said looking over towards Ino.

"Huh? Oh uh I don't know. Hopefully for the child and its mother he won't be that bad."

"Hey I won't be that bad at it!"

"He probably won't even have kids!" Choji chuckled.

"I'll have a kid before you even know it." Shikamaru grunted to himself but the others heard. Ino showed a look of shock and Choji had a look of disbelief.

"Ha, sure you will." Choji said sarcastically. "Either way like I said before you'll probably dump all the work of the mother, who ever the poor unlucky women is, and who knows what trouble you'll get into."

"Hm whatever." Shikamaru said. "We'll see soon enough." He said under his breathe but Ino managed to hear.

'_What did he just say? Did he say what I think he said? That moron what if Choji had heard him? He shouldn't let things like that slip out when we're in public with so many people around.'_ She turned to look at the people that lined the streets they were walking.

Not long after saying this Shikamaru felt an elbow hit him by his ribs, when he looked up to see who it was, he saw it was Ino.

"Keep quite and watch what you say. What if he had heard you and started questioning you about it? I thought that we agreed to keep it between us for awhile longer."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah whatever. I won't let it slip again. I promise, sorry. Now let's catch up with him. Or do you want to wait for my team? They shouldn't be that far behind." He point his thumb behind them.

"Oh, I see them, so we should just wait up since they don't exactly know where it is that we're going. Oh and Shikamaru?"

"What is it now? Wait I already know, don't say anything about it." He told her bluntly.

"No not that! Well yeah that too but uh happy birthday Shika." Ino said happily.

"Troublesome damn women. Thank you Ino." He told her with a sly smile creeping upon his face.

"Shika sensei you left us behind!" The young blonde with gray eyes came running up to them.

"Yeah sensei you forgot us!" The boy with the blue-green eyes and red hair said.

"Katsumi and Eito, I didn't leave you guys behind, you guys fell behind arguing as always. There's a difference. Anyway Eito where's Hiro?" Shikamaru scolded the two.

"He's coming up behind us."

"Okay. While we're with Ino and Choji can you all please refrain from your usual fighting and bad behavior?"

"Sensei! Wait up for me, don't leave yet." The black haired boy, who Ino guessed was Hiro, yelled.

"Hurry up you idiot, don't make us wait 'cause then sensei will leave and we'll leave with him. Right Eito?"

"Uh, what? I can't really leave him behind."

"Whatever you moron. You're supposed to always agree with me and take my said when it comes to group things."

"I don't really blame you for trying ditching them after all." Ino whispered to Shikamaru while watching the three argue and fight. "But yeah don't you ever try to do _that_ to my child in the future."

"Hey, I have part ownership to it to you know? And didn't you just say not to talk about it in public." Shikamaru told her in a hushed voice.

"Yeah well it's not like I'm letting it slip out loud!"

"It doesn't matter either way you just did what you told me not to." He told her, his voice no longer a whisper.

"Shikamaru! Cut it out." She told him slightly rising her voice.

"Whatever come on troublesome woman. Choji's mostly likely already waiting for us, he probably thinks we ditched him." He turned to see his genin staring at them. "What?"

"Shikamaru sensei where you two arguing?" Eito asked, before getting hit by his cousin Hiro.

"Shut up! He'll get mad if we snoop into his business. So what if they fought." Hiro told him quickly.

"Well boys shouldn't be arguing with a girl, isn't that what your mom always tell us."

"So what? We always argue with Katsumi!"

"She doesn't count. She always starts it, she's our teammate and we don't really argue we just tease each other. If Shikamaru sensei is picking fights with a girl who's nice enough come to by and see him we should at least stick up for her." He was cut off by the sound of someone laughing.

"Shikamaru, I was wrong maybe these kids are fun to be around!"

"Quite down troublesome women, people are staring."

"So what? It's not my fault that they don't have anything else to do other than to drop in on other people conservation. Anyway, no we weren't fighting. That's just how me and Shikamaru are, right Shika?"

"Are you sure you're always like that?" Eito asked out of concern.

"Yes, she's the troublesome headache and pain in the ass I've been dealing with since birth." Shikamaru said in a serious tone, but with the evil gleam in his eye Ino knew he was kidding so she decided to play along as well. She fake pouted.

"Aw come Shikamaru don't lie to them, you haven't been dealing with me since you were born, I decided to let you have one day to yourself and was born the day after you. And don't talk about me as if I'm a nuisance to you, you know you love me." In told him jokingly.

"Whatever troublesome woman, one day wasn't enough. You should've been considerate and given me some months if not years of a break. You were such a headache to always look out for." He told her, not making a reply to her last statement. It was already awkward enough between them; he didn't need to freak her out by letting her know that he had feelings for. She didn't need to know that, at least not yet.

"Well it's not like it was just you looking out for me. Daddy had both you and Choji watch over me." She said smiling brightly. She turned around and saw the confused faces of the three genin walking behind them. "I'll explain it to you guys after we're seated."

Once they entered the BBQ restaurant, which was their regular hangout spot, they spot Choji in the far back of the room waving at them to come over.

"I almost thought you guys ditched me." Choji said jokingly.

"Choji we would never ditch you."

"Anyways Ino, I forgot to tell you that tomorrow I have a mission so today we'll celebrate not only Shikamaru's birthday but yours as well. Sorry."

"Aww come on Choji I was born on a different day so that I'd have the day all to myself…not for me to share it with him." Ino said point a finger at Shikamaru with a disgusted look on her face, though both boys knew that she was just teasing him, so Shikamaru didn't really get offended at all.

"I know Ino. I'm sorry about that. You to Shikamaru, I'm sorry about you having to share your day."

"Nah, it's cool. The way our parents are, we always get stuck sharing the day anyway. And it's Ino so I'm used to it, right Ino."

"Yep! We've spent every birthday together, this isn't anything new. So don't worry Choji. Just do well on your mission so you can come back and we can all party."

"Hey lady! Didn't you say you'd explain what ya'll were talking about?" Hiro said with a serious look.

"Hiro, behave." Shikamaru rebuked his student. He didn't want Ino to get mad at him for his student speaking so harshly to her.

"Let it go Shika. I did tell them that. Okay so me, Shikamaru and Choji have all been friends since we were babies. Our dads used to be teammates and were best friends! Me and Shikamaru were born the day right after the other so I've known both of them since birth, my mom and Shikamaru's mom shared a hospital room and Choji's mom came to visit with him. Hmm I can't say which one I knew first because well I was a new born! We were put on the same team as soon as we graduated the academy, Team 10. And since we were on the same team and my dad's friends where their dads and he's very protective he told them to watch over me for him. As if I needed to be babysat! Whatever, that would always start fights between us but we got through it. We didn't always get along but we're the best of friends now."

"Yeah Ino and Shikamaru used to fight a lot when we were younger. He was always calling her troublesome and saying that she was always making a mess for him to clean and that would make Ino angry and I was always left in the middle. I couldn't choose a side, they were both my best friend!"

"So you've both had to put up with Shikamaru sensei's lazy bum attitude for your whole lives?!" Eito yelled. Both Ino and Choji started to laugh.

"Ha-ha-ha very funny Eito. Ino, Choji this loud mouthed brat is Eito, the rude one with black hair is his cousin Hiro, and the irritating blonde is Katsumi."

"Hey!" All three genin said at the same time. After that being said they ate their meals in silence. On their way out

"So today is Shika sensei's birthday?" Katsumi asked the trio.

"Yep and tomorrow's Ino's." Choji answered her.

"Happy Birthday Shika sensei!" All three genin yelled.

"Quite it down you three…thank you." He grumbled to the three.

The group ate in silence until Choji made a joke about how much Ino was eating.

"Slow down Ino! You're almost eating as much as me, and I eat a lot more than you usually do." Choji said with a chuckle.

Ino glared daggers at him.

"You really shouldn't eat so much. You'll get fat and ugly." Katsumi said with an arrogant tone of voice. Ino turned her glare form Choji to the younger blonde.

"Well excuse me! It's not my fault." Ino said defensively. She wasn't all about her looks now but she still liked to look good for herself, and thinking about how huge she was going to get in a few months because of the moron next to her didn't exactly bring nice pictures to her head, especially since she had already put on a few more pound to her liking.

Seeing the shocked look of her face and sensing that the questioning stares the others were giving her, and knowing exactly what she meant by her outburst, Shikamaru decided to help her out.

"Katsumi! Didn't I say behave around my old teammates. They're like a second family. And Ino please stop blurting the first words that comes to your mind. Nobody accused you of anything this time." He saw her expression change from shock, to confuse to understanding and lastly gratitude.

"Haha, sorry guys. I wasn't really listening to what was been said. All I knew was that it was directed of me and thought I was being accused of something so I said I didn't do it." She told the table.

"Now can we all just eat in peace?" Shikamaru asked, receiving a nod of agreement from everyone. Leaving them to finish the rest of the meal in silence.

After saying all their goodbyes everyone went home.

The next day was Ino's birthday and she had no clue what she was going to do. She had already celebrated with her parents, though she did end that early since she wasn't feeling all to well, maybe she should spend the day with them. Her morning sickness wasn't as bad anymore; she could now go a whole day with only throwing up once or twice.

A few days had passed since the three had hung out. On Ino's birthday her parents had insisted that she go out with friends and get out of the house for a day. So she had spent the day alone with Sakura and Hinata. Now she was coming home from working at the flower shop.

When she entered her home she was surprised to see that no one other than herself was home. Or so she thought, but as she walked up the stairs towards her room she heard her mother quietly sobbing. Sensing that something was wrong she ran to where she heard her mother, quickly finding her in her restroom.

"Mom, what's wrong are you okay?" She asked with nothing but concern in her voice.

"Ino what is this?! Please tell me it's not true! How long were you planning on keeping this from us? What is your father going to say when he comes home and finds out?" Her mother screamed holding up one of the positive pregnancy tests that she had thrown out earlier that week.

"I- mom what are you doing in here?" Ino asked shocked at the fact that her mother now knew and scared at what would happen next.

"I was cleaning the restroom for you and this fell out the trash. But don't try to change the subject. I asked you a question. Ino please, please tell me it isn't true, that it's not yours. Is it one of your friends?"

"Mom I- I'm sorry mom. I'm so sorry." Ino said with silent tears falling down her face.

"Ino, I'm so disappointed in you, I expected better. We'll talk about this later when your dad gets home, until then you're not aloud out of your room. Sit here and think about what you've done, and how badly you've messed up. Just what are we going to do with you Ino?" Junko said as she left the room.

What now? Her mom knew and by the end of the night her dad would know to. What was she suppose to do now? She can't leave her room let alone the house with her mom in and angry and disappointed mood. She can only hope and pray that everything would turn out alright.

She knew what she had to do now. Without putting much thought into what she would say she reached for the phone on her desk and dialed his number. The phone only rang a few times before he answered.

"Hello?" His groggy voice said. So he was asleep as always.

"Shikamaru!"

"Ino? Are you crying? What happened, are you okay?" He started asking so many questions, why would she call him crying, unless something big happened?

"Shikamaru, she knows. My- my mom, she found out and she's gonna tell dad when he gets home later. I-I don't know what to do."

"What? Are you sure?" He asked fully alert and awake now. She didn't need to explain to him what her mother found out; he knew what she was talking about. The baby.

"Yeah. She told me when I got home." She told him, still sobbing a little.

"This is so troublesome. Don't worry about it Ino, just don't go anywhere. Okay? I'll be there in a bit." Shikamaru told her in a rush and hung up quickly.

"Ughh!" She let out a frustrated grunt. "It's not like I can go anywhere. What's he going to do anyway?"

'_Why is he coming over? I doubt she'll let him in now. And even if he did mange to get in what he do? How can he help out now? I mean I know he feels like he's also at fault here but him being here isn't going to really do any help. If they found out how he's involved in all of this mom will probably scream his ear off while dad beats him to death! No come on Ino, now isn't the time to think things like that. He is a genius right? Maybe he'll come up with something to tell them.' _She shook her head vigorously, shaking the thoughts away. She didn't need to worry about that right now. She looked to the clock and saw the time 9:12 her dad would be home within the hour. What was she going to do when she had to face him and tell him what has happen.

'_So they're going to find out sooner than we thought. How did Junko find out? I know this is gonna be hard on Ino. The way her parents are. And it's all my fault! If only I told her no that night and took her home like Choji asked me. After her parents find out my parents are bound to find out not long after and I'll really be dead if they find out. They say it's all good as long as you can live with yourself. But how can I live with myself climbing up your window to get to your room, knowing that I've caused you so much trouble, Ino. Please, just give me a little help with this.'_ Once he was up the window he knocked on her window.

Ino heard a knock on her window so she went up to see what it was. After opening the window she saw that it was Shikamaru.

"What are you doing here? In they see you sneaking into my room they'll know for sure and you'll be dead!" Ino told him as he climbed into the room.

"Calm down you loud troublesome women. They'll hear you."

"And they'll see you! What are you doing here? You can't help out, just leave and I'll tell you what they say." She begged him while trying to get him out of her room.

"Come on they'll find out sooner or later. We might as well just tell them now so they won't be as mad." He tried to reason with her, but she was stubborn and wouldn't let him be there.

"Please Shika? Please just go, I won't tell them it was you, please just- I don't want to know just yet. I know that they'll eventually find out but please not yet can you do me that favor?"

"Ino you want me to leave? After getting you into this mess? I don't think that I can Ino." Shikamaru said but was quickly cut off from saying anything else by the sound of Ino's mother call out Ino's name.

"Ino! Come down, your father's here!"

"I'm sorry Shika. I've got to go and if you don't want to leave then just stay in here and don't make any noise." Ino pleaded with him as she left her room to meet her parents downstairs.

"Hi dad." She said as she saw her father sitting in the living room.

"Hey princess. What is it that your mother says you have to tell me?" Inoichi asked his beloved only daughter.

"I-uh I- Mom?" She asked her mother who sat next to her father on the loveseat leaving the sofa across to sit on.

"What? You didn't expect me to tell him did you? You want to act like a grown and get yourself into situations like this than you can tell him yourself." Junko said in a harsh voice.

"What's going on? Ino are you in some kind of trouble?" Inoichi asked with confusion written across his face and concern in his voice.

"I- Daddy I'm so sorry. It was an accident, I didn't mean for it to happen I swear!"

"Ino. What's wrong? What happened?" Inoichi asked. They both looked to her mother who only shook her head.

"I'm pregnant!" Ino cried out. Inochi froze.

"Ino, come on stop playing around. Tell me what really happened!" Inoichi demand from his daughter, when he didn't get a response from his wife or his daughter he started to panic. "Okay Ino. You've had your fun the jokes over now. This isn't funny."

"I know it's not funny! I'm serious dad." Ino screamed with tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry dad. I'm sorry I let you and mom down. It's the hardest thing I've had to say to you, but it's true."

"How can this be? Who's is it Ino?! Who is he?" Inoichi asked. When he didn't get an answer from his daughter his thoughts went wild. "Did he force himself on you, honey?" When Ino shook her head no Inoichi lost it. "Than why won't you say who's the father? Is he forcing you not to say?"

"NO! I just- I just can't." Ino told him.

"She probably doesn't remember him or even know who he is." Junko's harsh judgmental voice called out.

"Junko! Don't say things like that."

"Mom! It's not like that."

"Ino how could you do this to us? You're the heir to the clan and you go out and get yourself knocked up at 18! Didn't I raise you better than to go around town and open up your legs?!"

"Mom, I swear it's not like that! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen. It was an accident."

"You didn't mean for this to happen? Or you didn't mean for us to find out so soon? Think about how this will affect not just you but all of us." Junko yelled at her daughter while Ino cried on the sofa across from her.

"Junko! That's enough. I'm not happy about this either nor do I approve of this. But it's already happened and what's done is done, so we just have to deal with it."

"I can't stand it!" Junko said getting up to leave to room. "She can't stay here tonight."

"Junko be reasonable!"

"I am being reasonable. I said she can't stay here tonight; I'm not kicking her out entirely. She can find somewhere else to stay for a few days while we figure out what we're going to do about this. You know this changes the plans that we've had. And I need time to process this. But it does explain why she's been acting different lately."

"Yes, I know. But- okay." Inoichi said as his wife left the room. He turned to Ino after making sure that his wife was out of hearing range. "I'm sorry Ino, but can you find somewhere to stay for a while? We'll talk about this later. I promise we'll talk this out soon. And your mom, don't worry about what she's saying, she's taking it all in. She had certain hopes and goals for you she'll be back to her old self by the time you're back. Come by the shop tomorrow or the day after and we'll talk. Okay? We'll get through this." Inoichi said trying to reassure his crying daughter.

"Okay dad." Ino said as she saw her father get up and go after her mother to talk to her. She decided to go up and grab a few things before she went to find out where she was going to say the night.

As she walked into her room and started putting some clothes into a bag she felt a hand grab her wrist, stopping her from doing what she was doing.

"Shikamaru?!" He said in a shocked whisper, she had forgotten that he stayed in her room when she told him to leave.

"What happened? What did they say? They didn't kick you out did they?"

"No, my moms just taking it all in and doesn't want me here. She said I had to find somewhere else to stay for a few days so I'm going to see if I can stay over at Sakura's for awhile. " She said getting her arm out of his grasp so that she can finish grabbing the things she needed.

"You can stay at my place." Shikamaru said after a short silence.

"What?"

"You can stay at my apartment. It's not like I'm some stranger Ino. You can trust me and it's my fault that you need somewhere else to stay so why not."

"Okay but just for a couple of days."

"I'm telling you, you'll be fine just stay with me until you feel like leaving." Shikamaru said, trying to reassure her that she will be okay and that she'll make it through this. He started to make his way to her door but was stopped by Ino.

"What are you doing? You have to leave the way you came. I didn't bring up or name and they're not really happy right not so I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to be caught leaving through the front door after sneaking in." She explained to him.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll just wait for you in the front of the house." Shikamaru told her while heading for the window that he came in.

"Okay."

Once she was out of her house she met up with Shikamaru, and they made their way back to Shikamaru's apartment.

"I'll sleep on the couch so you can sleep in the bed." He told her once they were inside the apartment.

"No, it's okay. I can take the couch; you don't have to do that."

"Ino, you're pregnant and a guest, so yes I do have to do that."

"Whatever, just for tonight." She told him as he pointed to where his bedroom was.

When they woke up the next day he had to go train his team and was telling Ino that he was going go with his team.

"Wait! Can I go to? It's my day off and I can't go back to the house yet or the shop and I don't want to be here all alone." She told him.

"Hm. Sure, Choji's going to meet us up there to so don't be too surprised to see him."

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A/N: Well I know that I was late with the update I'm sorry but hey stuff comes up and I did do a 6,000+ word chapter, that's twice the usual! Hopefully that made up for it. So dun dun dun Inoichi and Junko know! If you see anything wrong please tell me!


	9. Oh Well, Oh Well

Hey guys I started working on this one right after the last chapter was posted so hopefully I get this out to you all soon! Thanks for the reviews, they make me smile. (:

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**Chapter 9: Oh Well, Oh Well**

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As they got to the training field they saw that Choji was already there.

"Hey Shikamaru! Ino why are you here? Are you going to spar with us to? That's great we could show them the Ino–Shika-Cho formation." Choji said excitedly.

"I- Uh yeah! Let's show them how a real team works."

"Are you sure you should be doing that Ino?" Shikamaru asked, her with concern, as Choji went to go tell the genin that they were going to see a demonstration of their sensei's old team.

"Oh lighten up Shika. It's not like we're really going to fight. We'll just show them a few things and that's all. It'll be fine besides I need something to distract me from what happened last night anyway, so this is good." Ino told him reassuring him that it would be okay.

"Are you sure that you can do this? I mean it won't hurt the baby right?" He asked eyeing her with a weird look. It felt weird, to him, saying it out loud. The baby, his baby, their baby. It would take some getting used to but he didn't mind it all that much.

She was having his baby of course he wouldn't mind it. Who would mind the fact that the girl you think you might be in love with is pregnant with your child? A crazy person that's who and Shikamaru wasn't crazy. Lazy yes crazy no.

They're having a baby together so shouldn't that help him with his goal of trying to have a deeper relationship with Ino. That should make thing easier for him right? Wrong! It made things a bit harder and more complicated. If he messed up not only is their lifelong friendship at risk but also the outcome could also effect the child.

"For a genius you sure ask a lot of questions. Of course I'm sure, I already told you it's no big deal. We're just going to show them how Team Asuma works together as a team so that maybe they'll stop fighting and try to be like our team." Ino told him a bit annoyed. Sure she was glad that he was worried about them, it meant that he actually cared, but he was such a worry wart sometimes and that was just plan annoying and irritating to her. "Just call them all over here."

"Yeah, yeah whatever." He told her. "Hey you brats come on over here!" He yelled to the genin who were to busy arguing amongst themselves to listen to Choji telling them what was going to happen. "This is so troublesome." Shikamaru muttered to himself.

After a few hours of showing the three genin how well Team 10 works, efficiently, as a team they decided that, that had been enough for the day.

"Wow." The three genin said simultaneously.

"Yup, that's what years of practice will do for you." Ino told them.

"What she means is that's how well a team can work together if they don't argue over every little thing." Shikamaru told them in a hard voice, giving him a bored but mean stare.

"All lighten up Shika. They're just kids, what do you really expect from them? Don't you remember what our team started out as? You and Ino would fight like cats and dogs on just about everything! So just give them a break and some time to get used to each other."

"That was different Choji and you know it. Me and Ino had already known each other for years that's just how we were and we would always get our work done regardless of whatever dispute we had going on." Shikamaru told him.

"Hey! Choji you make it seem like all we would ever do is fight." Ino yelled at Choji, while Choji just shrugged at her.

"I'm neither denying nor confirming that." Choji told her. Ino's mouth opened in shock.

"We wouldn't fight we would just have a difference of opinions sometimes." She told him with a pout. "Right, Shika? We would just express our different views verbally."

"Yeah we would just exchange our different views of things. We would just play around. Choji you know it wasn't anything serious unlike these brats who go at each others throats." Shikamaru scoffed.

"If you guys say so." Choji told them, unaffected by their words.

"Choji, you're so mean!" Ino told him.

"We're friends now aren't we?" Shikamaru told Choji gesturing between Ino and himself. Choji merely shrugged.

"Could've fooled me, sometimes I'm not so sure you are friends." Choji muttered to himself. He knew that they're real good friends now but sometimes they way they act has him thinking that maybe they're hiding something. If feels like they might be a little more than friends with the smiles and secret looks they give each other. He thought they their little game of teasing would sometimes sound more like flirting than actual insults, and just the way they are when they're around each other had him thinking that maybe more was going on. He wasn't their best friend for nothing, even if other people couldn't sense their small changes he could and the few times that they'd hung out lately, he could sense a whole lot of those small changes. Honestly, he wouldn't mind if they got together. Heck he thought that'd be great, they could balance out each others personality, he wouldn't mind them being together as long as they don't forget about him and their friendship, other wise he'd feel left out.

"What'd you say Choji I couldn't hear you. You were speaking to low." Ino said cupping her closest ear to him.

"Huh? Oh I said that it took some years. Yeah that's what I said." He told her nervously. She glared at him, she knew that wasn't what he said but she couldn't hear what he had really said.

"Whatever. I'd love to stay here and argue but I gotta go. I'll meet up with you some other time." She told then packing up her stuff to leave.

"Where are you going?" Shikamaru said in his bored tone but with a hint of concern his voice. He was curious to see where she was going; she never mentioned anything to him about going somewhere today. Maybe she was going to go talk things out with her parents. If she was shouldn't he know about this to? Shouldn't he go with her? It was partially his fault that she was kicked out.

"I've got something I need to do. I'll see you guys later." Ino told them, hurriedly grabbing her bag.

"Come on Ino just tell us! We're curious." Choji told her.

"I just have to go see Sakura at the hospital real quick, if you must know."

"But I thought today was your day off?" Choji asked her.

"It is I'm just going to go there for something real quick. If you want we could meet up when I'm done."

Shikamaru was watching his teammate's exchange words. After hearing where she was going he automatically knew why she had to go. She was going to get a check up and she didn't want to tell other people about what was going on yet, so she was trying to be discrete about it. At least it was Sakura that she was going to go to, they could trust her to keep this to herself. He just wonders how it'll go and if everything's okay.

"Okay meet us here in an hour. You'll be done by then right? You know what don't answer that just go. Don't worry we'll be here when you're done. I can't guarantee that Shikamaru won't be asleep though." Choji rushed her off while laughing at the joke he made about his best friend.

"Okay, I'll be back. It won't take more than an hour, I swear!" She told them walking away from the training grounds and making her way to the hospital where she would meet up with Sakura.

Like she said she would she went to the training grounds to meet up with them an hour later. She saw that Choji was sitting up eating a back of chip and sitting next to Shikamaru who was slouching on the bottom of a tree with his arms behind his back. She decided to sneak up on them and liven up their afternoon.

"Missed me while I was gone guys?" Ino said standing over them with her hands on her hips, they screamed out in surprise when she did that.

"Ino! You came out of no where." Choji told her.

"Troublesome damn women. Don't sneak up on us." Shikamaru said while sending her a playful glare.

"Aw come on guys loosen up a bit. You were just sitting here doing nothing, you were asking for it. Hey where'd the little twerps go?" Ino asked both of them.

"I sent them home, practice was over about half an hour ago." Shikamaru said.

"Oh, now come on let's do whatever it is going to do today!" Ino said excitedly.

"Well it's already three so how about we all go out to eat somewhere?" Choji suggested.

"Choji you and food." Ino grumbled to herself. "Fine, but I get to choose this time." Ino told him.

"Fine anything sounds good to me right now. Come on Shikamaru lets go." Choji said sticking out his hand to help pick Shikamaru up.

"Whatever. Thanks." He said after getting up. He looked up to see that Ino was already at the edge of the training fields. "We should hurry and go, she's leaving us behind."

"Yeah let's go." After catching up Ino, which wasn't hard and didn't take long, since she had stopped and waited for them to catch up. "So where are we going Ino?"

"Hmm, the dango shop." She told after thinking it over for awhile, she had a weird craving for dango so why not?

"The dango shop?" Shikamaru asked, its not that Ino didn't like dango it's just that she always preferred to eat something else and doesn't ever really eat dango.

"I thought that you didn't like dango, Ino." Choji told her thought it sounded more like he was asking her a question.

"It's not that I don't like it, I just wouldn't be in the mood for it. It doesn't matter anyway. We agreed that I could pick the place and I want to go to the dango shop, so we're going to the dango shop." Ino said in a tone of voice that said if you don't like it you can go somewhere else, while giving them a small glare.

"Okay, okay we'll go." Choji said putting his hands up in mock defense, while Shikamaru just raised an eyebrow at her bizarre behavior.

'_Seesh. She was just in a playful mood with us now it's like she wants to chew off our heads if we don't agree with her. I wonder what her problem is.'_ Shikamaru thought to himself before his eyes widen with understanding. She was pregnant and prone to have a few mood swings every now and then, and he was assuming that she was having one right now along with a weird craving for dango; a food she usually ignored. _'Heh that explains it. I wonder how it went at the hospital with Sakura. I'll just ask her later, and I should probably ask her what's she going to do about her parents. There's just a whole bunch of stuff that we need to discuss.'_

Once they entered the dango shop and found themselves a table Choji got up.

"I'll be back. I gotta go use the restroom real quick." He excused himself while getting up to go use the restroom, giving Shikamaru a look that said he was sorry for leaving him alone with an edgy Ino, and leaving the table.

"Ino, don't you think we should tell him? He is our best friend so we shouldn't hide from him for to long. Imagine how he'll take it if he find out later down the road and finds out that we kept this from up, same as our parents. I think we should just come clean about it, keeping secrets you don't need to is so troublesome." Shikamaru said, eyeing her closely. She had her head down and her hands were playing in her lap.

"Everything is so damn troublesome with you!" She told him quickly looking up to cast him a glare, before quickly changing her face to an apologetic one. "I'm so sorry Shika. I didn't mean to yell at you. And yeah I know we should tell him soon but I don't know how to say it."

"Just give it time and think about telling him. He's my best friend I don't like keeping big things like this a secret from him."

"I'll think about how and when to tell him. It'll be sometime soon, 'cause I'm sure that no matter how hard my parents will try to sweep this under the rug, they'll still tell their best friends about this and then it might get around to the rest Akimichi and Nara clans." Ino explained to him.

He knew that she was right his parents and Choji parents were bound to find out since all their fathers were best friends, that's why he needed to talk to her about this, if he's parents find out that he hid this from him he's as good as dead.

"Speaking of our parents. What are you going to do about yours?"

"That's enough for now. I don't think we could talk about all of that before Choji comes back from the restroom." Ino said while letting out a nervous laugh. "We'll just talk about it later, look there's Choji now." She told him while pointing to their friend on the other side of the small restaurant.

"Hey guys, hope I wasn't gone for to long." Choji told them.

"Nope you came right on time. Not let's order and eat up!" Ino said and then called a waitress over to take their orders.

"So Ino have your parents finally change their mind and let you move out on your own?" Choji asked Ino trying to make small talk.

"Oh that, uh kind of." Ino nervously said, if she were to be honest she really didn't want about any of that right now, it makes her nauseous.

"What do you mean kind of?" Choji asked confused.

"Don't worry about it Choji. What about you how have you been lately?" Choji gave her a concerned look but went along with it anyway.

"Great actually! I've been getting a lot of missions lately."

"That's good. Oh the food's coming." Ino said while gesturing towards the pates of food that the waitress held.

"Here you guys go." The waitress said leaning of the table to give Choji and Shikamaru their plates, giving them a full view of her low cut top. When she went to give Ino her plate she gave the boys a very flirtatious smile. Her eye crinkling up with a spark when she smile at Shikamaru, didn't go unnoticed by any of them. "And here's what you ordered." She said with a bored and unimpressed tone while putting Ino's plate in front of her and leaving.

"Did you guys see that?! She totally sneered at me while giving you two the goo-goo eyes!" Ino told them feeling insulted.

"Calm down Ino, it's just what they do to try and get a bigger tip." Shikamaru told her.

"So flirting with the guys and dissing the girls is okay?" Ino said in an incredulous voice.

"I'm not saying it's okay. It's just what they do." He said trying to reason with her.

"Yeah Ino she didn't really mean anything by it." Choji said trying to calm her before she really got mad.

"Whatever lets just eat."

Shikamaru had finished his food first and reached into his pocket to pull out a cigarette. Ino started to smell an offensive odor that was make her queasy, she looked up and saw that Shikamaru had taken out a cigarette. She tried to push down the nausea she was starting to feel but lost and needed to get up and go to the restroom or she'd throw right then and there on the table.

When she came back she saw that Choji and Shikamaru where sending her looks filled with curiosity and concern.

"What's up guys?" She asked them.

"I don't know." Choji told her with a confused look. "Are you okay? You turned pale and ran out of here like you needed to puke or something."

"Oh that? Yeah, I'm fine. Someone just needs to put out his damn cigarette." She said sending Shikamaru a look.

"What? What'd I do?" He asked while Ino just raised an eyebrow and shook her head at him.

"Well, I think that we should all get going. You know places to go, people to see, that sort of thing." Ino told them.

"Yeah, I have to prepare for a mission that I have tomorrow. I'll see you when I get back in a few days." Choji told them while getting up and leaving some money on the table. "It's my treat today; next time is Shikamaru's turn. Bye guys." He waved and then left.

"Come on Ino let's go, we have things that need to be discussed and you're not getting out of this conversation so easily." Shikamaru said giving her a stern look.

"Yeah." Ino told him letting out a sigh.

After they got back to Shikamaru's apartment Ino turned to face him.

"Okay, go. You said you had things to talk about and I know you didn't finish asking all your questions."

"Well let's just take this one question at a time. Are you going to talk things out with your parents?"

"Eventually, now the next question." She told him uncomfortably.

"What about my parents?" He asked her looking her in the eyes.

"What about them?" She said unfazed.

"Shouldn't they know to? It is their grandchild to, you know?" He asked her slowly, almost as if she was dumb and wouldn't understand what he was saying.

"Yeah, I know that but, if they knew then my parents would know and that's just too much right now. They'll find out eventually anyway." He said nonchalantly.

"That's not the same and you know it Ino. Imagine how my mom will feel if she finds out that we kept this from her." He said in a hard voice. Didn't she see how unfair it was that her parents know, though yes the situation is a tad different, but still they know about their grandchild while his parents don't know or even suspect?

"We'll tell them when we tell my parents that you're the father, sometime after we tell Choji." Choji would get to know first, he'd get to know before their parents because Choji was their friend and wouldn't show utter disappointment in them even if he were to feel it. He'd help them and encourage them while their parents will be ashamed and disappointed in them.

"Didn't you say that your parents wanted to see you today so that you could talk it all out?" Shikamaru questioned her.

"Yeah but I had other things to do. I'm not going to drop everything I'm doing so that they can get after even more about something no body had control over." She had to go get a check up with Sakura, and later down the road she would need to talk to Lady Tsunade about her maternity leave.

"Ino if it's that bad you know I'll go with you, so that we can get this out of the way." He told her trying to convince her that it wasn't at all that bad.

"Not now, not yet." Ino shook her head vigorously.

Why was this girl so damn stubborn? Why did he even care about it? That's right he cared because it concerned Ino. Ino, his loud troublesome teammate that he had known his whole life and who thought he might love, the girl who was pregnant with his child, so of course he thought he should care.

'_Now I'm almost positive that I'm in love with this damn girl.'_ He thought as he looked at her and then he saw her belly, it wasn't that big yet but there was starting to be a small little bump it wasn't really all that noticeable but anyone that knew her would have seen the small weight gain on her. _'I wonder how everything went at the hospital and if everything's going okay.'_

"Okay then, some other time, but soon. How'd it go at the hospital?"

"It was fine Sakura just gave me some victims and told me how far along I was." Ino said. "It was 10 weeks she had told me."

"Oh." She was 10 weeks, still in the early stage but he knew she wished she had her mother by her side in all of this. He started to think that maybe she should go talk to her parents now, even if she didn't want to involve him yet. Just so that they could talk things out and be on good terms. If they didn't let her go back home or if she didn't want to go back, she could just stay here with him. Its not that he was trying to get rid of her or anything, he just knew how much her parents meant to her, she didn't like being in an argument went them and them kicking her out was probably making her feel worse then she was letting on. "Ino. I think that you should go talk to your parents. You don't have no say anything about me if you don't want to yet, but I think that you should just get it over with now. I know how you feel about your parents being angry with you and I don't want you to feel that. Besides you know that you can always come here if they don't let you back home or if you don't feel comfortable." Shikamaru stated calmly,while putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I'll think about it. And I'll think about when to tell Choji and Yoshino-obachan and Shikaku-ojisan to." She told him quietly.

Almost a whole two months had passed since she had 'agreed' to think about talking to her parents, telling his parents and how to tell Choji, but not once in those four weeks had she actually tried to go through with any of it. She was now in the middle of her third month in her pregnancy. Shikamaru was starting to get worried that she wouldn't tell anyone that she was pregnant and would just one day start going about the village with a baby in her arms. She had stopped working at the flower shop and lady Tsunade had removed her from active duty and let her work at the hospital for now. She was really trying everything to avoid her parents until one day when she out at the market picking up a few things she saw both of her parents.

"Ino!" Inoichi had called out to her, in a voice that she couldn't ignore.

"Hey dad, hey mom." Ino replied a bit uncomfortable. She wasn't prepared for this.

"Where have you been honey? We were worried about you when we never heard from you again after... you know." Junko told her daughter, with concern written on her face. She really regretted the way she reacted to Ino and had felt really bad when her daughter didn't come home the next day.

"Let's all just go home, we have quite a lot to discuss." Inoichi said while putting one arm around Ino and pulling her in the direction of their house, leaving her no room to argue or run.

She was finally going to have to talk with her parents about everything, she just wasn't sure if it was the right time to bring Shikamaru into the mix. Sure he had already offered to tell them himself but still she didn't want to completely ruin his life with everyone find out what exactly was going on. She knew that right now his life was just as mixed up as hers and she didn't want to add anymore to that. And from what she could tell there were already a few rumors about the two about how much time they were spending together. Oh well she could deal with that later but there was no way out of talking to her parents now. She's just hoping for the best.

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A/N: Okay so I was rushing this towards the end, and me being me (which is prone to accidents) caused me to hurt my finger so I don't know if I'll be able to update on time, hopefully I will. (: Please tell me where there are errors so that I can fix them, I don't find them all when I need to. XD Anyway leave a review to tell me what you thought and suggestions are welcomed!

**Actually I need them, how do you think they should tell Choji about this? **

**Should Ino come clean about everything, or should she still keep her parents in the dark about who the father is?**

And I'm thinking about changing the title from "**Never Knew I Needed**" to "**A Lesson In Romantics**" what do you guys think?


	10. Anywhere But Here

Sorry it's late again guys but I had to go school shopping and I was at my aunt's house for a few days. This is the first chapter with the new title! And a shout out to** MariaLuvsYew** for helping me out a lot. :D Thank you.

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**Chapter 10: Anywhere But Here**

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She was freaking out. What was she suppose to do? She knew that she had told Shikamaru that she would think about when to tell their parents but she didn't really have much time to think about it lately. Her parents had caught her when she was out and left her with no escape when they all but dragged her back to her house. Her house that she hadn't stepped a foot into for about two months, since her parents found out about her being pregnant and need some time to cool off and think things through. And for those two months she's been staying with Shikamaru at his apartment, of course no one knew that, and his apartment was starting to feel more like her home than her actual house. So here she was, two months after being kicked out, sitting in the living room of her house that no longer felt like her home, she wouldn't say that out aloud to anyone though.

"So, Ino honey how are you? Where have you been staying lately? Why didn't you come back the next day like your father told you? Do you know how worried you had us?! We almost thought that you had gone missing but we seen you a few times while you were walking around the village." Junko asked in a concerned voice and a worried look on her face. She had bombarded her daughter with questions the moment she sat down next to her.

"I-Uh I'm good. I've been staying with a friend and I don't know why I didn't come. It just didn't feel right." Ino told her parents in a small voice.

"Ino, you know that we need to talk things out. You're the next head of the clan; we can't have you doing things that would put the family name to shame. We need to figure out what's going to happen next and what you're going to do about the situation that you've found yourself in." Inoichi spoke up, he hadn't said a word since they made it to the house, he had sat across from them and stayed perfectly silent the whole time until now.

"I'm going to keep it and raise it." Ino said in a strong voice, after picking up her head to look her father in the eye, letting him know that she wouldn't have it any other way.

"But being a single mother at 18 is going to be hard. Ino are you sure that you don't want to rethink this? You have other responsibilities. You know that your mother and I will only help so much, but taking care of a baby alone with be hard and it will interfere with you profession and it'll possibly interfere with you being the head of the clan." Inoichi said eyeing his daughter closely. He wasn't put in T&I for nothing; he was trying to see if he could persuade his daughter to think differently. He knew that Ino had work very hard most of her life to be a kunoichi and to one day be the head of their clan but he can see that now she's made up her mind of what she wants to do. And though he knew that Ino was as stubborn as people came, he was going to try to change her mind. Once she had set her mind on something there was no stopping her, but he could try. He would try because he didn't want his little girl going through all of this alone, he wouldn't let that happen.

"I know all of that daddy, but I won't change my mind. This baby is my responsibility to now. And I won't be doing it all alone, I know for sure that there's one person I can count on to help me. Sure it'll be hard being a shinobi and a mother at my age but I'm sure that I can do it, and I won't be the head of the clan for some years and by then things will be different." Ino told him. She wouldn't back down, this was her baby so of course she was going to have it and take care of it, she just couldn't see it any other way. She knew that her father was trying to scare her into changing her mind about either keeping the baby of having it by telling her that everything she's worked for her entire life could be at state her but things have changed. Her priorities have changed and her child was at the top of the list now. And even if things were to get too hard for her to handle on her own Shikamaru said he would help her out and she knew that she could always count on him. He was always there to help her out with anything she needed help with, in the past and now wasn't any different.

"What about the father sweetie? Does he know about all of this, is he going to be involved?" Junko asked her daughter nervously, she could sense that neither Ino nor Inoichi wanted to budge on their views of what should happen, and Ino had mentioned someone being there to help her. Once she asked that Junko saw that Ino started to chew on her bottom lip nervously and she started thinking the worse. "It's okay Ino; just tell us who he is. It doesn't matter if he won't help and wants nothing to do with you or the baby, we just want to know who he is."

Ino started to laugh when her mother had finish talking. She was laughing because she found it pretty funny that her mother was automatically thinking the worse and that the father wanted nothing to do with this situation which was the totally opposite. Shikamaru wanted to come clean to both of their families about what was happening.

"No, mom. It's not like that. He wants to help and be involved." She started to bite her lip again, it was a nervous habit that she's had for years, should she tell her parents that Shikamaru was the father? No she wouldn't tell them just yet, she needed to talk with Shikamaru about how they would tell their parents. Should she tell them that she was currently staying with the father, she wouldn't tell them his name yet she would just say that she's been living with him since she was kicked out? "I'm actually staying with him right now." The words left her mouth in a whisper before she had even decided if she would tell them that bit of news. She didn't know if her parents had heard her not but it was too late to take it back now.

"What did you say?!" Inoichi asked his daughter in disbelief.

"I- Uh. N-Nothing." Ino stuttered. Maybe she should've put more thought into that sentence before saying it.

"No I heard what you said. I just want you to repeat yourself." Inoichi said and wife, Junko, nodded in agreement.

"I said that I'm staying with him right now. He insisted that I stay with him when he found out that I had no where else to go. I couldn't exactly say no! Where was I to go if I had told him no?" Ino told her parents who where now staring at her.

"So that's why you never came to the flower shop the next day! Is that why we haven't been seeing you much lately? Is he keeping you captive?" Inoichi started asking his daughter question after question. He knew there had to be a reason why they hadn't heard from her in almost a month. This guy who impregnated his daughter wouldn't let her leave!

"Daddy you've got it all wrong! It's not like that. Why are you trying to make him out as the bad guy here?" She couldn't stand how her dad kept trying to blame Shikamaru for everything, though he didn't know it was Shikamaru that he was talking about. She was at fault here to, and Shikamaru was trying his best to do what he thought was right!

"You keep saying that we've 'got it wrong and it's not like that' but you never clear it up for us. What are we suppose to think Ino? You won't tell us anything. We just want to help you out." Junko said close to tears.

"I'm sorry mom. I should be going it's getting late. And he's not as bad as you're trying to make him out to be. I'll tell you guys everything soon but not now." Ino said as she got up to leave the house.

"Ino wait!" Her mother called out. "The Nara's have invited the Akimichi's and us to dinner next Thursday. And no body knows that you're not staying here with us so can you please go?" Ino didn't know what to say so she just nodded letting her mother know that she would be there. "Okay be there at seven o'clock. And please talk to us soon, you that we're here for you."

"Ino, a moment please?" Ino heard her father call out to her while she was walking toward the door so she turned around again. "You know that you can come back home any time you feel like it. Our door is always opened for you, we can get though all of this together."

"Yeah, I know that dad. Thank you but I have to get going now. And don't worry about it mom I'll be there next week." Ino told her parents as she waved them goodbye.

On the way back to Shikamaru's apartment she had a lot to think about. She had let it slip that she was staying with the father but luckily the name hadn't slipped up yet. She would have to tell Shikamaru not to mention that she was staying with him, or else things would get out of hand. She knows that she has to tell her parents about Shikamaru soon or later, but she'd prefer not to tell them. But if she doesn't tell them they'll eventually find out on their own and will be disappointed in both her and Shikamaru for not telling them, though Shikamaru was just doing whatever she told him to. Not only did she have her own parents to worry about but Shikamaru's parents as well. Imagine how they will feel when they find out that they have a secret grandchild! They were all going to have to sit down at a dinner together next week and she doesn't think that she can keep it a secret with all of them there. She really needs to talk to Shikamaru; she needs his help on what she should do, though she's pretty sure that she knows what he'll say anyway.

'_Shika's being really reasonable with all of this. He wants to come clean with them about all of this and I'm trying to hide it! He's the one that's known to run from things that are to much work while I'm known to step up to the plate and now look. Our roles are turned. Just what am I suppose to do? Everything's getting to messed up, Shikamaru was right keeping secrets this big is too much trouble. And if I don't come clean about al of this soon I could end up making things worse.'_ Ino thought to herself while walking through the streets of Konoha.

Once she got into the apartment she saw that Shikamaru was lying down on the couch watching TV, she saw that he had looked up when he heard the door open. She knew that she needed to talk to him about this as soon as possible, she couldn't keep pushing off these important conversations like she's been doing.

"Oi, Ino where were you? It's late." Shikamaru asked her when he saw her come in while sitting up straight.

"I was with my parents. They saw me when I was out earlier and dragged me to the house saying that 'we had a lot of things to talk about' and I just left not to long ago." She told him while sitting down on the other side of the couch.

This had caught his attention. He was wondering when she would talk to her parents about everything that was happening. The question now was did she tell them about him.

"What happened? What did you talk about?" Shikamaru quickly asked.

"What do you think we talked about?" She told him in a sarcastic tone.

"Okay. What did you say?" He asked her slowly, not wanting to say something that would make her yell at him or hit him.

"Nothing, I told them where I was staying…but I didn't exactly say who I was staying with." Ino answered quietly.

"What do you mean Ino?" Shikamaru asked clearly confused. She said she told them where she was staying but not with who she was staying with, it didn't really make sense to him.

"I told them that I was staying with the baby's father right now, but I didn't say who that was. When they started talking about it I told them I had to leave. I just couldn't find it in me to tell them yet. I needed to talk to you about it first." Ino said now facing Shikamaru's direction.

"You know you could've told them about me. It's not like I'm some stranger or person that they don't like. They've known me my entire life."

"Yeah, but still what about telling you parents? Don't we have to do that to? Your parents invited mine and Choji's families to dinner next week, did you know that? I don't think that I can sit at a table with all of them and keep this to myself."

"What a drag." Shikamaru muttered to himself, and then looked at a frantic Ino. "It'll be okay; you sat down with all of us once and didn't say anything. If you're not ready to tell anyone then just pretend like last time."

"It was different last time. I had just found out and I was trying to wrap my mind around it, but now I know for certain and I don't want to lie to everyone about what's going on Shika." Ino wailed close to tears.

"Ino. Ino it'll be okay. Okay? You can tell whoever you want to tell whenever you want to tell them, I won't bring it up anymore if you don't want me to bring it up. Just please don't start crying, you know it freaks me out when you cry." Shikamaru told her while giving her a quick gentle hug to calm her down.

"No you're right we need to tell everyone, it's just that I don't know how. How can we just crash their worlds like this? They practically had our lives all planned out and here we are changing everything they thought they had plan. Imagine what my parents will say about it or what they'll do to you when they find out. My dad's already drawing you out to be some bad guy whose ass he has to kick. And you're parents to! Imagine how they'll react. They'll probably think I'm just some whore who tricked or something." Ino cried worriedly.

"Ino you know that's not true, you're not a whore! They would never think of you like that and you know it. They love you as if you were their own child." Shikamaru told her sternly in a soft voice. "Sometimes even more than there own child." He mumbled to himself but Ino still heard and she laughed softly.

"But you said it yourself, auntie Yoshino and uncle Shikaku see my as a second child to them so they'll just end up showing me how disappointed they are, at me, for ruining your life and I don't think I can take seeing that look on anymore people towards me. Do you know what it's like having the closest people to you look at you with so much disappointment written across their face? Sure they'll get over it after awhile but seeing it hurts." Ino said quietly while looking down at her hands, that had suddenly became much more interesting in the past couple of minutes.

"Come on Ino, you are not ruining my life. And they won't be disappointed in you at all, they'll be freaking pissed at me. They might even feel bad about it and be sympatric towards you." Shikamaru said to Ino in a serious voice. "Heh, my dad probably wouldn't really care if it were anyone else but since you're the daughter of one of his best friends he might find this pretty damn troublesome and my mom will try to kill me for it while saying that I'm a screw up but in their eyes you can do no wrong so I know they won't hate you." He told her looking her in her sky blue eyes.

"Hmm, who knows? We'll just see when it when it happens, but we're going to have to tell my parents first since they already know about the baby in general and your parents don't. And don't you think your parents would be more outraged when they find out that you got some random girl pregnant?" Ino asked him.

"I don't know. It never really came up in conversation, I should probably ask them. You know just to be prepared for their reaction." Shikamaru said lightly, trying to cheer her up.

"Yeah you probably should." Ino laughingly said. "It's getting late and I'm tired, so I'm going to get ready and go to sleep." She said after few minutes in silence.

After taking a shower and getting into her pajamas she took a second to look at self in the mirror. She noticed that her clothes, a light purple tank top and black knee length shorts, were starting to fit her a little snug, she knew it was because her small baby bump was starting to show now that she was 19 weeks pregnant. Sure she didn't want to get that big but she knew that it was because her baby was growing so she fine with that. Since she was starting to show she only wore lose fitting t-shirts when she went outside the apartment, but since she was behind on laundry she would either have to wear one of her tight fitting shirts or steal a shirt from Shikamaru.

'_I'm so going to kick Shikamaru's ass for this when this is all over, it's his fault that I'm getting fat anyway.'_ Ino thought to her self as she went off to Shikamaru's room; he had basically given her his room since the day she showed up saying that he could sleep on the couch.

The next morning Ino got up first, so she decided to wake up Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru." Ino whispered while nudging his sleeping form. When all he did was groan and toss his body over on the couch Ino got mad and went over to the window to move the curtains a little to some sunlight come in and hit Shikamaru. As she was adjusting the curtains there was a knock on the door.

She knew it wouldn't be a good idea if she were to go and answer his door so she decided to shake him. "Shikamaru, wake up!"

"Ugh. What do you want troublesome? I'm trying to sleep. There's no practice this morning so I can sleep in for a few more hours before we go meet up the genin." Shikamaru mumbled, in a sleep filled voice. Ever since Ino started staying with Shikamaru at his apartment she would go with him to practice with his team everyday, when she didn't have to go work at the hospital or before she had her shift, sometimes they would even meet up with Choji. It was actually kind of fun to be out there with them all, expect for the attitude that Katsumi would sometimes give Ino for some unknown reason.

"There's someone at the door." She said in a hurried whisper.

"Okay. Why can't you answer it? You live here to." Shikamaru said with his eyes still closed.

"I can't answer because I'm in my pajamas and no body knows that I live here! And nobody can know yet." Ino told him while shaking him more strongly than before.

Opening one eye Shikamaru saw what she was wearing. He could've sworn almost all of her shirts were getting smaller and smaller on her just about everyday, but he wouldn't say that to her, she'd kill him. She was going to have to go out to get some clothes that will fit her when she gets bigger. She was already starting to show and only a handful of people knew about it, he knew that they were going to have to start telling people soon and he was going to tell her that then but then he heard the door knob jingling, as if someone where trying to open the door.

'_But the only person who has a key other than Ino is Choji and Choji wouldn't come here this early without telling me.'_ Shikamaru thought to himself, as the door opened to reveal the other member of Team 10, Choji.

"Shikamaru why didn't you answer the door I've been outside for almost ten minutes?! Your mom wanted me to come over and tell you that she wants you to go to dinner next week at the house." Choji said walking in and closing the door. After turning around he noticed Ino. "Ino? What are you doing here?" He asked in a confuse tone, looking her over before noticing the slight bulge she had in her belly, unsure of what to say about that. "Uh, what's going on? Why is Ino here so early and in her pajamas that look small?"

"Ugh, I'll be back!" Ino said before going to Shikamaru's room to go get dressed.

'_How dare he say my clothes look small?! My clothes still fit perfectly fine; it's just this damn baby bump that makes my clothes smaller.' _Ino thought angrily, while looking for a shirt big enough to cover up her small bump._ 'Maybe we should just already tell him now since he'd here and he saw my bump.'_

She couldn't find one so she decided to just throw on a different outfit. She put on a light gray T-shirt, that that clung to her a bit tightly and some black pants, before walking off towards where the guys were.

Once she walked into the living room she sat down on the opposite side of the couch from Shikamaru and Choji, she saw them watching her.

"We should really tell him Ino. You can't keep something like this a secret for long." Shikamaru told her while looking her in the eyes.

After a short silence Ino decided to talk. "I guess so, I mean it's now or never."

"What are you talking about?" Choji asked her with concern in his voice. "Come on I really want to go eat breakfast and since you're already here Ino, which you'll have explain to me once we're out, I don't have to go track you down after dragging Shikamaru's ass out of bed and telling him what his mom asked me to tell him." Choji told them while crossing his arms over his chest.

"I... you know what I'll just tell you when we're eating since I'm hungry to. Come on let's go." Ino said gesturing toward the door nervously. "Where is it you wanted to go Choji?"

"I- Uh the usual BBQ place." Choji said waiting for Shikamaru to get up so that they could catch up with Ino. He knew that something was up and he had a sinking feeling that he knew what it was.

'_She couldn't be, could she? Maybe, I mean she does seem to have a bigger appetite than usual and she ran out last time just 'cause Shikamaru lit a cigarette I mean I know she does like them but she's never ran out before. And she has a small bump, but if she is pregnant I wonder who the father is. She's like a little sister to me! I'll kick the bastards' ass that did this, if she is pregnant.'_ Choji thought to himself.

As they sat down Ino decided to sit in the seat that was by the wall which left Choji and Shikamaru to sit across from each other.

"Okay so I have some big news to tell you Choji...but you can't too mad. Please don't be to mad." Ino started off the conversation glancing at Choji to see him nodding, letting her know to go on. She knew that he was probably suspicious now that Ino was avoiding eye contact with him.

'_Keep breathing, just keep breathing Ino. It won't be as hard as it was to tell Shikamaru or my parents. This is Choji, one of my best friends. He won't hate me he'll just be…surprised.'_ Ino told herself, while trying to stay calm.

"Okay it's now or never… I'm pregnant Choji." Ino said in a rush, still avoiding eye contact with either of the boys now.

"And?" Shikamaru said. His tone letting Choji know there was more to it than just that.

"And I have to go use the restroom. I'll be back guys." Ino said as she got up to walk toward the restrooms.

Choji was shocked! How could this have happened to his little sister? She hadn't ever really had a boyfriend. Inoichi wouldn't let her date unless he approved of the guy (which would never happen) and Ino didn't like to go behind her parents' backs. He assumed she was when he saw her but he couldn't have been sure.

'_Oh man if I'm this shocked I wonder how poor Shikamaru is taking it. I know that he likes to claim that she annoys him and that he won't ever admit it but as his best friend I can tell that he really likes her.'_ Choji thought to himself while looking at Shikamaru who was just staring off into the direction that Ino had gone. _'Aw man it's worst than I thought.'_

"How are you holding up Shika?" Choji said after awhile.

"What?" Shikamaru asked. He wasn't exactly paying full attention to Choji at the moment; he had other things on his mind, blonde blue-eyed things.

"Come on Shikamaru I know you like her, so this must be hard on you." Choji said eyeing the pineapple haired shinobi.

"Tch. I don't know what you're talking about Choji. This whole situation is just unexpected." Sure it was true that he liked her but he didn't tell Choji exactly for this reason. He would try pushing him to do something about it and Shikamaru didn't feel like putting so much hard work into it just to be turned down. He didn't want to lie to Choji by denying it but he also didn't want to tell him that it was true, so he decided to just change the topic. Ino being pregnant was hard on him but it wasn't entirely because of the reasons Choji thought.

"Don't lie to me Shika. I've known you for years. I know that you like her and I thought that she liked you back but I guess I was wrong about that."

"Seriously Choji? Don't you know Ino?" Shikamaru said with a hint of bitterness. As if Ino would ever feel the same for him, the closest he thought that he might ever get from her is platonic love or pity, neither of which did he really want.

"Shikamaru, I know she's everything you want and all you hate and that it just freaks you out but come on just let it out. It's okay to say that you like someone even if they don't like you back." Choji said in a serious tone of voice.

"You know what, Choji? Just drop it. Okay? You're just talking nonsense now. Ino's not done telling you everything." Shikamaru said in an annoyed voice.

"Hmm. Okay for now. And you're right. I wonder who the father is. I'm going to kick his ass for doing this to Ino."

"What if it wasn't his fault this all happened?" Shikamaru asked.

"Of course it's his fault. Our Ino wouldn't do such a thing." Choji said crossing his arms over his chest.

After a minute of silence Ino came back from the restroom looking more calm than she did the entire morning.

"Ino you now I'm not mad or disappointed in you or anything. And neither is Shika. Just tell who the father is." Choji told Ino after putting a hand on her shoulder.

When Ino let out a laugh Choji looked around confused. Even Shikamaru seemed to have a small smirk on his face.

"I thought that you would have figured out who the father was by now." Ino told Choji after she was done with her laughing fit. "The father is…Shikamaru." Ino said in a low voice.

"WHAT!?" Choji yelled looking between both of this teammates and childhood friends.

* * *

And I'm going to cut it off there, sorry. I'm hoping to finish this story before school starts in 2 weeks.

Help me out guys, my parents have agreed to let me get snake bites (lip piercings) but I'm not sure if I want them anymore. I was watching TV and I saw how pretty everyone's clear face was and I don't want a big ugly scar permanently on my face I mean sure I have two moles on my face and a couple small scars from pimples but you can barely see them. So I need your help deciding what I should do, get them or not? And what color should I do my hair for school?

Any who, the parents find out next chapter!


	11. When You See My Friends

Sorry that it's late again but I was at my aunts house again and her laptop is slow and her I don't like to use her MAC.

* * *

**Chapter 11: When You See My Friends**

* * *

"Ha-ha yeah, it's Shikamaru's baby." Ino said letting out a nervous laugh while facing Choji; she was now sitting on the same seat as Shikamaru with some space between them. "And don't be so loud someone might hear you!" She said while looking around to make sure that no one was paying attention to them.

Choji was utterly dumbstruck. He didn't know what to think about what he was just told. He looked at Shikamaru to confirm what Ino had just said.

"Heh, uh surprise?" Shikamaru told him while trying to sound optimistic.

"What? How? W-When?" Choji asked clearly shocked and confused. It had to be a joke right? His two best friends weren't really having a baby together, were they?

"Tch, how troublesome." Shikamaru said to his teammates.

They kept quiet when they saw a waiter coming to there table to take their order and they stayed quiet until after they finished and paid for their food, but none of them moved from their spot. After a few minutes of silence Shikamaru decided to take a cigarette to smoke.

"Don't do that by me, you moron." Ino said while smacking his arm that held the cigarette.

"Do what? What did I do?" Shikamaru asked her with a puzzled look on his face. All he did was take out a cigarette! Why is she suddenly calling him names and hitting him?

"Uh hello? You're smoking that death stick right next to me and I'm kind of carrying some pretty precious cargo here!" She told him while gesturing to her small bulging belly. Was he stupid or something? She's pregnant, and with his baby!

"Yeah Shikamaru. You know she hates it when you smoke and you shouldn't smoke around someone who's pregnant especially if they're pregnant with _your_ baby." Choji told Shikamaru in a way that was making him feel dumb and he was a genius!

"Okay, okay geesh. I didn't know, sorry." Shikamaru said turning out the cigarette. How was he supposed to know that? Nobody ever told him not to smoke by a pregnant lady.

"And you're supposed to be a genius." Ino scoffed so low and under her breath that neither of the guys heard her.

"How did that even happen? How long were you hiding that from me? What did your parents say? Why was Ino at your apartment in her pajamas, I might add, early in the morning?!" Choji asked letting out all his frustration at his close friends.

"It was the day of the celebration we were drunk and _you_ left us alone, so in a way it's your fault. I've known for about two months and easy she stays there that's why she was there so early." Shikamaru said in a bored tone, leaving out the question about their parents on purpose.

"What?!" Choji cried out loud. His fault? How was it his fault that they were drunk and made a baby? It's not like he forced them to do get drunk and have sex. Heck he wasn't even there!

"Pipe down Choji! And well we kinda haven't told our parents…er well we haven't told Shika's parents and my parents don't know everything about it. That's kind of why I stay there, lets just say my parents weren't to happy about the news."

"Okay explain that. And you've known for almost two months and didn't say anything to me because? I thought I was your best friend." Choji said with a bit of hurt on his face.

"Look Choji I wanted to tell you but Ino wasn't ready for other people to know. Heck even our parents don't know." Shikamaru told his best friend.

"What's the deal with your parents? I mean you say you haven't told them so why not?" Choji asked looked at the both of them now.

"Well I told my parents and it didn't really end that good at first, that's why I'm staying at Shika's right now." Ino told the young Akimichi.

"They didn't kick you out, did they?" Choji asked her with concern in his voice. He knew that her parents might be mad about it but mad enough to kick her out? He thought that they might be a little relived that the baby's Shikamaru's but then again that could just make them angrier. He knows that Inoichi only fully trusts Shikamaru and himself with Ino and her well being and that Inoichi might feel betrayed that it was one of the people he trusted the most.

"They were really mad and they were so disappointed in me!" Ino said in a small voice close to tears.

"H-hey what did I say about crying." Shikamaru said clearly freaked out. He didn't think it was right when girls cried (it was too troublesome), but he really hated it when girls he cared about cried it made him feel weak in some way and it freaked him out because he couldn't figure out why they were crying half the time.

"Don't be so mean Shikamaru. She's having a hard time with this." Choji reprimand the shadow shinobi for trying to get after the girl for crying. Choji didn't like to see his close friends sad either but he knew that she needed to let this out.

"They had told me to go stay with a friend for a few days and then meet them at the shop to go home but I never did and that was a month ago. They stopped me the other day and starting asking me all these questions I left when it got uncomfortable. They don't know that the baby's Shikamaru's and his parents don't know about this either so you cant say anything when we're at dinner next week." Ino told her chubby friend.

"Ino, I won't tell them but if your parents ask me I can't lie to them about this." Choji said in a sympathetic tone. "I'm sorry, but this is just something that really shouldn't be hidden from your parents for to long. They'll find out eventually you know." He started to explain to her how it saw it.

"You sound like Shikamaru now." Ino said after letting out a soft laugh.

"I told you we should just tell them already and get it over with. They'll be more pissed if they find out on their own." Shikamaru said now entering the conversation.

"So Shikamaru wants to tell and you don't?" Choji asked slightly confused. He knew that Shikamaru was good when it came to responsibility but he also knew that Shikamaru didn't like to tell his parents about stuff that can get him in trouble while Ino was one who didn't like to hide things from her parents she felt guilty about it and she'd want their advice. So why was it that Ino was trying to prolong telling their parents while Shikamaru was ready to tell them?

"Yes. No. I don't know. I want to tell them but then I don't want to. I'm just not ready to tell them yet." Ino said.

"Okay, I won't mention it to them, but like I said I won't lie to them." Choji reassured his blonde friend.

"Come on the kids are going to meet up at the training fields in a little." Shikamaru said getting up from the table to leave.

"Ino! Why are going to the training fields everyday in your condition?" Choji asked suddenly when they were half way to their destination

"Shut up Choji!" Ino said agitated. "I'm pregnant not sick with some physical condition." She whispered to him.

"Still you can get hurt out there. Shikamaru, why do you let her go?" Choji asked the dark haired ninja in front of him.

"She's Ino. Meaning that she's stubborn and would show up even if I were to tell her not to, and she knows her limits and how to take care of herself. Haven't you noticed that she doesn't do much when we're there?" Shikamaru told him while still walking ahead of them.

"Oh now that you mention it, you're right."

"Yeah. I mean come on Choji how reckless do you think I am?"

"No I don't think that you're reckless. Just looking out for the little thing." Choji said while giving her stomach a look. "Am I going to be the godfather, aren't I?"

"Hmm I don't know, Cho. I'd have to think about it." Ino said while faking a face of deep concentration. Of course he was going to be the godfather, he was both of their best friends, sure they never thought about it but without a doubt they would both agree to it.

"Aw come on Ino. I'm your best friend and third team member you have to let me." He said pouting like a small child. "Shika will let me. Won't you Shika?"

"Heh, whatever Ino says. It's too troublesome to say otherwise." Shikamaru said with a smirk. He enjoyed pulling Choji's strings and he knew that Ino was teasing him.

"Well I guess since you want to so badly that you can do." Ino said in a bored tone before busting into a fit of giggles. "I'm just messing with you Choji of you are. I wouldn't have it any other way."

"That wasn't very nice Ino; I thought that you were really thinking about it."

Once they got to the training grounds they genin weren't there so they sat under a few trees to wait for them.

"Ino?" Choji asked after a few minutes of waiting.

"Hm."

"Do your parents know that you're staying with Shikamaru?"

"Oh no. And they can't find out about that either. If they find out that I'm staying with him then they'll know that he's the baby's father." Ino quickly said.

"Oh. Okay, so where do your parents think that you're staying at?" Choji asked.

"They don't have any clue as to where she might be staying." Shikamaru said. He was now lying down on his back watching the clouds pass by, as usual when they have to wait for his team to show up.

"Yeah I've only seen them a hand full of times since they found out."

"How exactly did they take it?" Choji asked.

"Her parents took it as you would have expected, but without the yelling. I guess that they didn't want anyone outside to hear about it." Shikamaru said.

"Yeah, dad was confused and disappointed and mom was just down right furious. They kept asking me so many questions and when I wouldn't answer them mom got mad and said that I had to stay someone else while she cooled down. Dad didn't fully agree with her but still he told me she needed some time and space." Ino said with a small frown forming on her lips. "Anyway I think that I see the genin coming over here." Ino said while pointing straight ahead where they can barely see three figures coming up.

"Well off to work you go Shikamaru." Choji grinningly said.

"It's too troublesome to get up before they even get here." He said opening one eye to see how far the kids were.

"Shika sensei we're here! You can stop missing us." Katsumi yelled running up to Shikamaru who was getting up off the ground.

"Trust me Katsumi he doesn't miss us. And if he were to miss us you'd be the least missed." Eito stuck his tongue out to Katsumi.

"Sensei you really shouldn't fall asleep when you know that we're coming at any moment." Hiro said to his sensei.

"It's a shame when your own students get after you for sleeping on the job." Ino said catching the attention of the three genin from her spot under the tree.

"Oh. You're here again." Katsumi said dismissively, putting her nose up in the air.

'_What is this damn girl's problem? She does this every time I come to training.' _Ino thought to herself.

"Of course I am. Where else would I go?" Ino said staring at the younger blonde.

"I don't know. Don't you have a job or something? You're always hanging around here. Do you not have anything else to do other than come and bug us?" Katsumi said in an arrogant tone.

"Katsumi shut up!" Eito said.

"Stop being rude to Shikamaru sensei's friend Katsumi." Hiro told her.

"What a drag. Blondes are so troublesome." Shikamaru said under his breath. "Katsumi what did I say about my teammates?"

"That you've known them your whole life and that they're your best friends."

"Okay now hurry up and apologize so that we can start training."

"Fine." She said turning around to face the older blonde. "Sorry." She said while giving Ino a questioning look. "Are you pregnant? If not than you're getting really fat." She asked with her eyes wide.

All of Team 10 froze. Shikamaru and Choji quickly looked over to Ino, to see how she would react to what Katsumi had just said to here. But they both saw her frozen with a pale face. When Shikamaru looked at her stomach he saw that she was wearing one of her tight shirts so her bump was visible. How did they forget about that?

"We're here to train, not dig into Ino's personal life." Shikamaru said going towards the other side of the tree so that they could actually get started. He knew that Ino wasn't ready for other people to know, so instead of telling them a bunch of bullshit lie they just wouldn't tell them anything yet.

"So she is? No wonder you don't ever do much here. And I thought you were just some lazy slacker that didn't want to do any work." Katsumi said. "So who's that baby's father?" She asked excitedly. Sure she wasn't too fond of Ino but she's having a baby, that's a pretty big thing isn't it? And now that they all know that she's pregnant she shouldn't be much of threat to her when it came to Shikamaru.

"I said let's start training Katsumi." Shikamaru called out to her.

"Fine, fine. I'm coming." Katsumi said while walking toward where the rest of the team was.

"Well that was close." Choji said.

"Too close. What am I suppose to do now?!" Ino asked him. "I'm leaving before all three of them come back and start bugging me with questions." She told Choji while getting up. "I'll see you and around. And don't forget; don't say anything at dinner next week!" Ino yelled while leaving.

While walking Ino could see that she was getting some disdainful looks. She knew they were talking about her, some of them were whispering and others were talking as if they didn't give a damn if she knew they were talking about her. She could clearly hear the conversation of two women by her.

"Is she pregnant?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. The way she used to dress was just asking for _that_ kind of attention. The filthy slut."

"I wonder who the father is."

"It doesn't matter; she probably doesn't know who he is. I wonder how her parents are dealing with this."

She should've expected this. They would call her names when they found out. She was, after all, barely eighteen and unwed, she didn't even have a boyfriend so they all would all form their own assumptions of what happened. She should've expected it and she should've been ready but she wasn't. They didn't know the whole story so they had no right to talk about her like that.

Almost a week had passed since the incident with the genin team finding out about Ino being pregnant. They would try and find out who the father was but they never got an answer from her because either Shikamaru or Choji would steer the conversation away from that topic. They all had to go the family dinner tomorrow. Something neither Ino nor Shikamaru were looking forward to.

They were at the training fields with Shikamaru's team again but Choji wasn't there he said he needed to run an errand. Ino was sitting down under a tree watching Eito and Hiro sparring and Katsumi was nagging her about telling her about her pregnancy.

"How far along are you?" Katsumi asked curiously.

"Four months almost five now." Ino said in a bored tone.

"What is it? I mean the gender, is it a girl or a boy?"

"Oh, I don't know that yet. I'm going to go check later this week."

"Who's the father?"

"That's none of your business." Ino said annoyed. Katsumi snorted.

"You never answer that question. I'm beginning to think that you don't even know who he is. Do you know who the father is?" Katsumi said snarky.

"Of course I know who the father is. What do you take me for, some whore that goes around town with any man?" Ino yelled at the girl.

"You said it not me." The younger blonde scoffed.

"And what's that suppose to mean? What's you damn problem with me? You've been like this since I met you!" Ino yelled at her.

"Oi, Ino what's going on?" Shikamaru asked running up to the girls.

"Why don't you ask the little troublemaker?" Ino said rolling her eyes.

"What did you do Katsumi?" Shikamaru asked after letting out a sigh.

"Nothing. All I did was ask her a couple questions and tell her few things."

"Will somebody tell me what's going on here?" Shikamaru asked desperately.

"You student is over here digging into my personal life and implying that I'm some kind of whore!" Ino yelled, obviously offended, not that he blamed her.

"Come on Ino. We've been through this already you're not a whore. Just ignore whatever it is that she's telling you. And you," he said turning to Katsumi, "what are you doing here?"

"I was just curious so I asked her a few questions. She doesn't want to tell me who the baby's father is so I was beginning to think that she doesn't even know who he is." Katsumi said while crossing her arms over her chest.

It never crossed his mind that people would think that badly of Ino in her situation, their situation. Just because she wouldn't give out a name didn't give people the right to say that she doesn't know who the father is. Now he was certain that it was time to come clean with everyone about what was going on. He'd have to talk to Ino about it later on that night when training was over.

"Ino's not like that Katsumi. She knows who the father is, she just doesn't want to give out his name to everyone. I guess she knows they'll all be shocked or something."

"Shocked or not, somehow it'll get out so she might as well just start telling everyone who it is. Wait he's not like married or anything is he? You're a home wreaker!" Katsumi yelled turning back to Ino.

"I'm not a home wreaker! As if the bastard is married. No body would be able to handle the way he is." Ino scoffed.

What exactly was that suppose to mean? She had survived living with him for a little over a month now. He wasn't that bad, though she did do more work at the apartment than him, and it was his apartment.

"Ino, I think that you should go back home. You know, get some rest and leave the argument. It doesn't matter what some little kid thinks of you, you and I both know that it isn't true." Shikamaru said.

"I'm not a little kid! I'm just a handful of years younger than you!" Katsumi yelled in offense.

"Katsumi just go spar with the boys." Shikamaru said rubbing the bridge of his nose. He was clearly getting agitated with what was going on. "And Ino you should probably just go back to the apartment and rest up."

"Whatever. I guess I'll be going." Ino said quickly getting up to leave. She walked away but then came back and mumbled something under her breath that Shikamaru couldn't make out.

"What is Ino? I can't hear you."

"I said I left my keys and need yours to get inside."

"How troublesome. Here." He told her with a small smile while handing her the keys to his apartment.

After getting the keys and leaving Ino walked back to the apartment with her thoughts running wild. How dare that girl think so low of her?! She's had enough of that girl's attitude and she was so annoyed that she almost told her who the father was. She wasn't sure if she was ready to cross that bridge yet. She wasn't sure if she was ready but she knew that they should tell their parents at least. She'd talk to Shikamaru about telling their parents tomorrow after dinner.

"Shika sensei, I thought you told her to go home?" Katsumi asked her teacher.

"I did, because clearly you were aggravating her, which isn't very good for her right now." He answered.

"So then why did she need your keys to inside?"

Shikamaru didn't even realize that they had just let it slip that they lived together until his student had asked him that, he knew that she would figure it out now. And he was right her eyes widen after not having her question answered.

"She lives with you sensei?!"

"Who lives with sensei?" Eito asked coming towards them with Hiro behind him.

"That blonde Ino chick! Shika sensei told her to go home and then she said that she needed his keys to get in and he gave them to her."

"Isn't she pregnant? Why would she be staying with you?" Eito questioned.

"Because, it's none of your business. What involves me and Ino doesn't concern you. So as I've said before please just stay out of my personal life." Shikamaru said in his monotone voice.

"Wait, the baby is yours isn't it?" Hiro said now joining the conversation.

Shikamaru knew that the group that he got was observant and smart but he didn't think it'd be by this much! What was he suppose to do now? He knew that they would find out sooner or later so he might as well tell them now. He just hopes that Ino wont be to mad at him when she finds out that he told.

"Not that it's any of your business but yes." Shikamaru said.

To say that all three genin were shock was an understatement. They all stood there still with their eyes wide and their mouths open wide.

"So she is your girlfriend sensei? I knew it!" Eito yelled.

"I told you Katsumi!" Hiro said sticking out his tongue at the girl.

"I never said she was my girlfriend." Shikamaru snapped at his students.

"So she's not your girlfriend, but she's having your baby, lives with you and you spend just about everyday together?" Eito said slowly. Sure he wasn't all that smart but even he wasn't that stupid.

"Exactly." Shikamaru told his students. Letting out a frustrated groan he started to talk again. "It's complicated and none of your business. Now go back to sparring, and your prying into my personal and private life has earned you two extra hours of training so get to it before I add more hours."

"Somebody's touchy about the subject." Eito mumbled to Katsumi who nodded her head in agreement.

Back at the apartment Ino had decided to start doing laundry since they were having dinner with all of their parents. Ino was nervous about being at a table with both her parents and Shikamaru's parents now that she was starting to show. She knew that she couldn't keep running from this and that she has to tell them soon, she just doesn't know how to tell them.

She heard a knock on the door when she was folding clothes but she didn't answer. Even though she was living here it wasn't her house to be answering the door. But when the person started knock harder Ino thought that it could be Shikamaru; she did take his keys after all.

"Answer the door I know you're in there." She heard a gruff but feminine voice call out from the other side of the door.

'_Temari! What is she doing here? I probably shouldn't open the door, she came here looking for Shika and she might get mad at him if I answer the door.'_ Ino thought to herself.

"Come on and open up the door or else I'll break it down." The sand ninja yelled from the other side of the door.

Although Ino didn't want to open the door for the older blonde she opened the door for her, she didn't really have a choice unless she wanted the front door kicked down.

"Oh your Ino right?" Temari asked when she saw the blue eyed platinum blonde on the other side of the door.

"Yeah." Ino meekly nodded.

"Uh sorry, I was told that this was Shikamaru's apartment."

"It is. He's out with his genin squad."

"Oh I see. What about you? What are you doing here?" Temari asked, her curiosity was peaked when the normally loud blonde was acting quiet and shy and hiding every part of herself expect her head behind the door.

"Well something's come up and I'm staying here for now."

"Really?" Temari asked with a smirk. "Mind if I come in for a quick cup of water or tea?" She said walking in without waiting for an answer and going toward the first seat she saw.

"Oh yeah sure. Don't wait for me to answer, just come on in and make yourself at home." Ino muttered to herself while closing the front door.

'_She's already made herself at home, might as well just give her something to drink now.'_

"Water or tea?" Ino asked as she made her way to the small kitchen area.

"Either one, it doesn't really matter, though I'd prefer water right now, after my trip here." Temari said.

"Okay."

"So you and the crybaby got together? I'm not all that surprised." Temari said, trying to start a conversation.

"Oh no. We aren't together, we're just friends." Ino said walking into the room with a cold bottle of water from the kitchen.

"You're not? But I thought you were. Hmm guess I was wrong." The older dirty blonde said, with the last line being said in a whisper only she could hear.

"Yeah we're just good friends in a bit of a sticky situation." Ino said.

"Really? What kind of situation would make you have to stay with that lazy bum?"

"One that involves both of us. But don't get the wrong idea or anything. We're just friends, he's my best friend and he's just helping out because we're both to blame for what's happened." Ino said in a hurry while walking into the living room where Temari was sitting.

"Hm. Oh, you're – you're pregnant!" Temari exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Yeah." Ino said chewing her bottom lip and letting out a nervous laugh.

"So that's the sticky situation that you're in. Well congratulations." Temari said smiling. She automatically put the puzzle pieces together and concluded that the baby was Shikamaru's; they were in a sticky situation that caused Ino to stay with him at his apartment.

"You're not mad? I mean you do like him don't you?" Ino said while giving the Suna kunoichi the bottle of water.

"That crybaby? No, well yeah I but only as a friend. Truth be told he's just one of the only people I know here and I like to give him a hard time." The older blonde said letting out a laughing.

"Oh, okay." The blue eyed girl said, letting out a sigh of relief. At least she wouldn't have some chick come after her for what happened.

"Yeah, so don't worry your pretty little head princess." She told the younger blonde while patting her head.

"Whatever as if I care." Ino muttered.

"While I guess I'll be going now. See you around and thanks for the water." Temari said, waving her hand while walking towards the door.

"Bye." Ino said.

'_Well she not as bad as I thought she'd be. And she doesn't like Shikamaru but I'm sure that he likes her. Oh well that's not what my priority should be right now.'_ Ino thought to herself while rubbing her expanding baby bump.

* * *

A/N: I know I said that the parents would find out in this chapter but I didn't know how exactly to write it and if I would've put it in this chapter it's be past 6,000 words and would take me awhile to update. So the parents will find out for sure in the next chapter. But school starts Monday so I might not be able to update as much. And I've read so many ShikaIno where Temari is portrayed as a bitch or she wants to steal Shika from Ino and I was planning on writing her where she like him but idk what happened. Lol I think that it'd be cool to see her as a friend to Ino and semi bully friend to Shikamaru. XD


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